Our thoughts go out to the New York husband who accidentally gave away his wife’s prized copy of the Judy Blume classic, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

According to flyers, which have popped up all over the trendy New York neighbourhood of Greenpoint, the story goes a little something like this…

I accidentally gave this book away on Saturday July 25th in a box on the corner of of Green and Franklin Streets in Greenpoint. The book is extremely important to my wife. It was a keepsake from her mother and is irreplaceable. On the inside cover is a note that reads “Christmas 1991.” If you happened to pick up this book can you please get in touch with me.

DOOM.

Read the full story]]>
http://metro.co.uk/2015/07/31/judy-blume-saves-the-day-after-hapless-hubby-chucks-out-his-wifes-irreplaceable-book-5321198/feed/0siamg1Judy_Blume_flyersiamg1Judy Blume Are You There God? It's Me, MargaretJust Judy Blume on a bike (Picture: Reuters)Do you know who wrote 17 of the most popular books of all time?http://metro.co.uk/2015/07/21/do-you-know-who-wrote-the-most-popular-books-of-all-time-5301146/
http://metro.co.uk/2015/07/21/do-you-know-who-wrote-the-most-popular-books-of-all-time-5301146/#commentsTue, 21 Jul 2015 07:19:09 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=5301146]]>

*Blows dust off* (Picture: Getty)

As revealed this week, the most popular book of all time isn’t Harry Potter. It’s the Koran, with 3 billion copies sold. The Bible comes a close second, with 2.5m.

And while it’s not entirely clear who wrote the Koran (because Muslims believe it was verbally related by God to Mohammed via the angel Jibril), and the bible was effectively crowdsourced, we all know who wrote Harry Potter.

The rest of the books on the world’s most popular list are classics – Catcher In The Rye, Great Gatsby, Robinson Crusoe – but while you probably (pretended to) read them at school, can you remember who… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2015/07/21/do-you-know-who-wrote-the-most-popular-books-of-all-time-5301146/feed/0AD_175468973.jpgakismet-2fcb28243f975bb512a587b829a23dfdClose Up Of Old BooksA woman’s written a comic book about abortion and everyone should read ithttp://metro.co.uk/2015/07/17/a-womans-written-a-comic-book-about-abortion-and-everyone-should-read-it-5300407/
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(Picture: Leah Hayes)

A woman has written a comic book about abortion in an attempt to make a very hard topic that bit easier to deal with.

It’s an essential read.

American-based illustrator Leah Hayes wrote ‘Not Funny Ha-Ha: A Handbook for Something Hard’ to take some of the stigma out of what is an extremely emotional subject.

The book shows the journeys of two women who have chosen to have abortions – 23-year-old Mary and 31-year-old Lisa.

The 1951 Disney adaptation of Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. (Picture: RKO Radio Pictures)

Whether you watched the recent Tim Burton adaptation, remember the old-school Disney cartoon or read the original book, chances are that you love Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland in at least one of its many forms.

With its memorable characters, its nonsensical plot and its quotable lines, it’s a work of literature that people around the world hold close to their hearts.

So on its 150th birthday, we thought you deserved to know some of the most obscure facts about the famous tale…

1. Alice is named after a real-life Alice – the 10-year-old daughter of the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University Alice Liddell, who heard, along with her two sisters, the very… Read the full story]]>

There is no denying that ’50 Shades of Grey’ has whipped up quite a storm since it was first released in 2011, with home county housewives creaming their proverbial cupcakes over the BDSM relationship between Christian Grey, a multi-millionaire control freak with a taste for cable ties and duct tape, and his subservient secretary, Anastasia.

And so it continues with E L James’s latest release, ‘Grey’ – the sequel to the trilogy, allowing us to ‘see the world of Fifty Shades of Grey anew through the eyes of Christian Grey.’

With literary contributions such as ‘grabbing her, I flip her over, keeping her fine, fine ass in the air …thank f**k, wordlessly I come, pouring myself into… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2015/06/07/the-9-stages-of-reading-a-really-good-book-5221092/feed/0Close up of man in chair reading book next to potted plant covered tableamandakeatsThere is something unexpected about this Bible picture of Noah’s Arkhttp://metro.co.uk/2015/05/27/there-is-something-unexpected-about-this-bible-picture-of-noahs-ark-5217541/
http://metro.co.uk/2015/05/27/there-is-something-unexpected-about-this-bible-picture-of-noahs-ark-5217541/#commentsWed, 27 May 2015 13:05:42 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=5217541]]>

(Picture: The Children’s Bible/Arcturus Publishing)

Everyone knows the story of Noah’s Ark, right?

The animals went in the ark two-by-two before the waters came and flooded the land.

There were two elephants, two polar bears, two giraffes, two antelope… and what’s this?

THIS.

(Picture: The Children’s Bible/Arcturus)

Two gay lions appear to be entering the ark too. How do we know? Because only a male lion would be in possession of such a long, dark, bushy mane.

http://metro.co.uk/2015/05/27/there-is-something-unexpected-about-this-bible-picture-of-noahs-ark-5217541/feed/0Amy WillisAD_170581836.jpgamywilliscan you spot this unexpected thing on Noah's Ark?lioncan you spot this unexpected thing on Noah's Ark?The Princess Who Saved Herself ‘reinvents the princess myth’ for a new generation of kickass girlshttp://metro.co.uk/2015/04/15/the-princess-who-saved-herself-reinvents-the-princess-myth-for-a-new-generation-of-kickass-girls-5150732/
http://metro.co.uk/2015/04/15/the-princess-who-saved-herself-reinvents-the-princess-myth-for-a-new-generation-of-kickass-girls-5150732/#commentsWed, 15 Apr 2015 07:49:26 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=5150732]]>

Princess Grace hitches a ride from a dragon (Picture: Kickstarter)

The Princess Who Saved Herself is the children’s book which seeks to ‘reinvent the princess myth’ for a new generation.

It tells the story of a princess named Gloria Cheng Epstein Takahara de la Garza Champion who lives in a castle by a waterfall with a pink and purple wall. She has a pet snake and plays rock ‘n’ roll. One day she ate a whole cake.

Sounds pretty awesome so far.

And this multi-racial, kickass princess doesn’t need anyone to save her – no prince charming, no one.

The book is the work of comics writer Greg Pak, based on a song by musician Jonathan Coulton, and illustrated by artist Takeshi Miyazawa.

JK Rowling has given Harry Potter fans a tiny glimmer of hope that there might be more books one day.

The author was asked about the prospect of an eighth book in an interview on the Today Show.

She said: ‘I have always said never say never. I’ve always said I’m not going to say ‘I definitely won’t’ because — because I don’t see why I should say that.

Read the full story]]>http://metro.co.uk/2015/04/11/jk-rowling-says-never-say-never-to-more-harry-potter-books-5145201/feed/0JK Rowling Hosts Fundraising Event For Charity 'Lumos'annleeukmetroJK Rowling has good news for Harry Potter fans (Picture: Getty Images)Harry Potter And The Philosopher's StoneSir Terry Pratchett’s final novel The Shepherd’s Crown set to be published in Septemberhttp://metro.co.uk/2015/04/08/sir-terry-pratchetts-final-novel-the-shepherds-crown-set-to-be-published-in-september-5139842/
http://metro.co.uk/2015/04/08/sir-terry-pratchetts-final-novel-the-shepherds-crown-set-to-be-published-in-september-5139842/#commentsWed, 08 Apr 2015 14:29:45 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=5139842]]>

Sir Terry Pratchett (Picture: Getty)

Sir Terry Pratchett’s final novel, The Shepherd’s Crown, is set to be published in September.

The Discworld book is the fifth in the series starring young witch Tiffany Aching and, presumably, the Nac Mac Feegles.

It follows on from I Shall Wear Midnight, which was published back in 2010.

This book hinted at the beginnings of romance between Tiffany and castle guard Preston, not to mention her increase in… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2015/04/08/sir-terry-pratchetts-final-novel-the-shepherds-crown-set-to-be-published-in-september-5139842/feed/0AD_162745138.jpgyvettemcasterLONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 25: Author and euthanasia campaigner Sir Terry Pratchett speaks to the press on on February 25, 2010 in London, England. New guidlines released today by the Public Prosecution Service aimed to clarify the grounds for prosecution in relation to assisted suicide in the UK. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)You and your child can star in Peppa Pig thanks to these bookshttp://metro.co.uk/2015/04/08/you-and-your-child-can-star-in-peppa-pig-thanks-to-these-books-5140374/
http://metro.co.uk/2015/04/08/you-and-your-child-can-star-in-peppa-pig-thanks-to-these-books-5140374/#commentsWed, 08 Apr 2015 14:10:49 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=5140374]]>

Peppa and your little star (Picture: Penwizard)

Mummy and Daddy Pigs of the world, this may be just the thing for your little piglet.

Your child can star in Peppa Pig thanks to these books.

Peppa, George and the rest of the gang appear in 10 adventures.

The special guests are you and your child.

That’s right, you get your own Peppa Pig-styled cartoon.

The My Daddy story book (Picture: Penwizard)

The stories include one about mums, Peppa and your child going to playgroup together and Peppa attending your kid’s party.

When people say, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’, they’re not talking about these books. These books deserve to be judged. Harshly.

You’d think the fact that Kindle books don’t need covers would mean that, well, kindle books don’t have covers. What it in fact means is that some Kindle books (many of which, coincidentally, also have dubious titles and subject matters) have really unbelievably sh*t covers.

And when we say sh*t we mean, laugh out loud, nightmare-inducing, mind-bogglingly sh*t.

Sir Terry Pratchett, one of the 20th and 21st centuries most prolific and brilliant writers, has sadly died today. Terry’s astonishing mind created the Discworld novels, continuing to write these beloved stories even after his Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

To celebrate the life Terry Pratchett, here are 10 things only a Discworld fan would know:

1. Be cautious of street food

Long before the streets of London were overrun with upmarket burger vans, taco shacks and the like, Cut Me Own Throat Dibbler was purveying the classic ‘sausage inna bun’.

It’s best not to think too much about what the sausage is actually made of, and therefore only something to eat if desperate.

http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/12/rip-terry-pratchett-10-of-his-most-moving-quotes-about-life-and-death-5100810/feed/0AD_162745772.jpgellenmetroLONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 25: Author and euthanasia campaigner Sir Terry Pratchett speaks to the press on on February 25, 2010 in London, England. New guidlines released today by the Public Prosecution Service aimed to clarify the grounds for prosecution in relation to assisted suicide in the UK. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)File photo dated 01/02/10 of Sir Terry Pratchett who has died at the age of 66, his publishers Transworld have announced. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday March 12, 2015. See PA story DEATH Pratchett. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA WireFile photo dated 26/11/98 of bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett with his OBE, as it has been announced that he has died aged 66. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday March 12, 2015. See PA story DEATH Pratchett. Photo credit should read: Michael Stephens/PA WireTerry Pratchett’s death announced in Discworld-esque tweethttp://metro.co.uk/2015/03/12/terry-pratchetts-death-announced-in-discworld-esque-tweet-5100572/
http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/12/terry-pratchetts-death-announced-in-discworld-esque-tweet-5100572/#commentsThu, 12 Mar 2015 15:15:58 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=5100572]]>

Terry Pratchett’s publisher announced his death this afternoon (Picture: BBC)

Best-selling author Sir Terry Pratchett has died at the age of 66.

Sir Terry, who wrote more than 70 best-selling novels, waged a very public struggle with Alzheimer’s disease in recent years.

His publisher Penguin Random House said he ‘passed away in his home, with his cat sleeping on his bed, surrounded by his family’.

He completed his last book – set like so many of his best-sellers in his creation of Discworld – last year.

— Owen Teahan… Read the full story]]>
http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/09/penguin-books-launches-yourmum-hashtag-what-could-possibly-go-wrong-5095365/feed/0Penguin-Books-logo-007olliemcateer(Picture: Penguin Books)17 World Book Day outfits you need to see immediatelyhttp://metro.co.uk/2015/03/05/17-world-book-day-outfits-you-need-to-see-immediately-5089951/
http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/05/17-world-book-day-outfits-you-need-to-see-immediately-5089951/#commentsThu, 05 Mar 2015 12:52:17 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=5089951]]>

Owling around (Picture: Flickr/ Zoe)

Forget Christmas or birthdays, World Book Day is the day all kids really look forward to (because fancy dress is the best. Fact).

Think back to your school days – was there anything more exciting than a no uniform day? Of course there wasn’t (unless you were *that* kid whose parents had forgotten).

And it seems that World Book Day 2015 has been a stellar year for fantastic fancy dress.

Here are 17 World Book Day outfits which totally knock it out the ball park. Good work parents.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) Read the full story]]>
http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/05/17-world-book-day-outfits-you-need-to-see-immediately-5089951/feed/0siamg1World_Book_Day_Flickr_Zoesiamg1A little girl dressed up as a owl for World Book DayWorld Book Day 2015: What the book you read on the Tube says about youhttp://metro.co.uk/2015/03/05/world-book-day-2015-what-the-book-you-read-on-the-tube-says-about-you-5089987/
http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/05/world-book-day-2015-what-the-book-you-read-on-the-tube-says-about-you-5089987/#commentsThu, 05 Mar 2015 12:38:21 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=5089987]]>

Does your choice of book reveal more than you realise? (David Streit / EyeEm)

It’s World Book Day, a time to celebrate the beauty of reading.

One of my favourite commuting past-times is to catch sight of the books people are reading. We’ve all been there – we see someone reading our favourite obscure book and spend the rest of the journey trying to catch their eye or guess what bit they’re up to.

What you read is a neat indicator of who you are as a person – and I’m afraid not all books are a flattering reflection. I, for instance, am currently reading The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, which pegs me, entirely accurately, as a literary snob.

http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/05/world-book-day-2015-what-the-book-you-read-on-the-tube-says-about-you-5089987/feed/0abbychandlerabbychandlerWoman Reading Old Bookabbychandlerhow to be womangoldfinchThese are the top novels of the last 20 years – how many have you read?http://metro.co.uk/2015/02/24/these-are-the-top-novels-of-the-last-20-years-how-many-have-you-read-5076930/
http://metro.co.uk/2015/02/24/these-are-the-top-novels-of-the-last-20-years-how-many-have-you-read-5076930/#commentsTue, 24 Feb 2015 12:57:37 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=5076930]]>

Just a selection of the best reads of the last two decades (Picture: Amazon)

Consider yourself a bookworm? Well, read on.

A panel of literary experts has compiled a list of the top novels released over the last 20 years, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Independent Bath Literature Festival.

To make the list, the books needed to have ‘transformed the literary landscape’.

An initial longlist was drawn up from every novel shortlisted for a prize in the past 20 years, as well as some the panel believed had been overlooked.

Hilary Mantel’s Booker Prize-winning Wolf Hall, recently adapted for TV by BBC Two, was picked out as the overall winner.

Harper Lee is back with her second published book, Go Set A Watchman. She is pictured here around the time of the first novel’s release (Picture: AP)

When I first saw the news Harper Lee was going to have a second book published (you may have heard of her first – a little novel called To Kill A Mockingbird) I was struck by a mixture of elation and fear.

I was scared because I – no doubt like many people across the world – hold To Kill A Mockingbird in such high regard.

The book changed my life.

It taught me to look at life differently, to keep my eye open for everyday prejudice and to walk around in someone else’s shoes before judging them.

This brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘inflammatory literature’.

Because this book will self-destruct in 24 hours.

As soon as you start reading a special edition of James Patterson’s new book, Private Vegas, the countdown begins.

Some page-turner (Picture: James Patterson/YouTube)

The thriller follows PI to the rich and famous Jack Morgan as he tries to track down baddies and rescue his best friend while evading attempts on his life.

The self-destructing copy is signed by the author and features a digital countdown display.

Whether you finish or not, by the time it reaches zero, the book’s a goner.

The sale is being billed as ‘the most thrilling reading experience a human being could ever encounter’.

Read the full story]]>
http://metro.co.uk/2015/01/28/you-only-have-24-hours-to-read-this-self-destructing-novel-5040302/feed/0Yvette CasterYvette Casterdestructingbook2yvettemcasterdestructingbook2destructingbook1distructingbook3Why Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook book club is good news for readinghttp://metro.co.uk/2015/01/06/why-mark-zuckerbergs-facebook-book-club-is-good-news-for-reading-5011215/
http://metro.co.uk/2015/01/06/why-mark-zuckerbergs-facebook-book-club-is-good-news-for-reading-5011215/#commentsTue, 06 Jan 2015 14:55:00 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=5011215]]>

Zuckerberg launched A Year of Books on 3rd January REUTERS

Oprah Winfrey could rocket a book to the top of the bestsellers list just by selecting it for her book club, and now Mark Zuckerberg’s new Facebook book club, A Year of Books, is doing the same.

The End of Power by Moisés Naím sold out on Amazon within 24 hours of it being announced as the first book recommendation from Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg’s new year’s resolution was to read more and start a book club. For most people, that would mean getting four of their mates to read the same book as them and… Read the full story]]>
http://metro.co.uk/2015/01/06/why-mark-zuckerbergs-facebook-book-club-is-good-news-for-reading-5011215/feed/0Zuckerberg smiles in an onstage interview for the Atlantic Magazine in WashingtonabbychandlerZuckerberg smiles in an onstage interview for the Atlantic Magazine in WashingtonGroup Of Women At Book ClubOprah WinfreyLittle girl’s list of what she’s learnt from her favourite literary heroines will give you hopehttp://metro.co.uk/2014/12/19/little-girls-list-of-what-shes-learnt-from-her-favourite-literary-heroines-will-give-you-hope-4992909/
http://metro.co.uk/2014/12/19/little-girls-list-of-what-shes-learnt-from-her-favourite-literary-heroines-will-give-you-hope-4992909/#commentsFri, 19 Dec 2014 10:24:49 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=4992909]]>

Click to enlarge (Picture: Twitter)

In this digital age of Zoellas and endless selfies, you sometimes worry that kids don’t lose themselves in books anymore; that no one’s reading under the covers by torchlight after bedtime.

But then a guy called Myke Cole shared a page torn out of his niece’s scrapbook on Twitter and it’s restored our faith in everything.

Little Mia is apparently an avid reader, inspired by her uncle who’s a novelist and self-confessed science fiction/fantasy fan. And it seems she’s been learning a lot from her feisty heroines.

Myke says he has a rule. If Mia asks to read something, he stops what he’s doing and buys her whatever book she wants.

Everyone loves Zoella, right? But do you love Zoella enough to slog through 350 pages of Girl Online on your Kindle?

Do you love Zoella enough to read several thousand words on milkshakes, and to soldier through conversations with her friend nicknamed Wikipedia who comes up with ‘interesting facts’ until you’re trying to claw your brain out with your bare hands?

No? We’ve saved you the bother by picking out some of the novel’s more epic moments.

No spoilers, we promise. We couldn’t really find any.

Girl Online sits on a chair which MAKES A FARTING NOISE

‘Ollie stares at me. Then he sniffs – he actually sniffs the air with a pained expression on his face. Oh my God – he thinks I farted!’

Girl Online plays the penny-falls machine for an entire page

‘I clap my hands for joy as a load… Read the full story]]>
http://metro.co.uk/2014/11/28/7-mind-bogglingly-boring-events-from-zoellas-novel-girl-online-no-spoilers-we-promise-4966382/feed/0robwaugh1974robwaugh1974robwaugh1974robwaugh1974robwaugh1974robwaugh1974robwaugh1974robwaugh197430robwaugh1974giphy20040200200200giphy50Why it is not okay to discredit YouTubers like Zoella aka Zoe Sugghttp://metro.co.uk/2014/11/28/why-it-is-not-okay-to-discredit-youtubers-like-zoella-aka-zoe-sugg-4965679/
http://metro.co.uk/2014/11/28/why-it-is-not-okay-to-discredit-youtubers-like-zoella-aka-zoe-sugg-4965679/#commentsFri, 28 Nov 2014 08:27:07 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=4965679]]>

Whilst I wait for my (late, obviously) train to pull into Liverpool Street, I’m passing the time by reading the book that has been tipped to be topping bestseller lists come Christmas.

It’s not a gripping thriller or set to be turned into a blockbuster next summer, but you might have heard of the author – Zoella aka Zoe Sugg.

Zoe’s Girl Online has been eagerly anticipated since she vlogged her publishing deal, and her subscribers, all 6.7 million of them, have watched and read the process from… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/11/28/why-it-is-not-okay-to-discredit-youtubers-like-zoella-aka-zoe-sugg-4965679/feed/0RebeccaRebeccaRebeccaRebeccaYouTube blogger Zoe Sugg, known as Zoella, poses during a photocall for her debut novel "Girl Online" in LondonbeckywaYouTube blogger Zoe Sugg, known as Zoella, poses during a photocall for her debut novel "Girl Online" in London November 24, 2014. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor (BRITAIN - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT) Luke Macgregor/ReutersEvangeline Lilly: ‘Forget Lost – I want to be known for my children’s books’ – actress goes from The Hobbit to The Squickerwonkershttp://metro.co.uk/2014/11/19/evangeline-lilly-forget-lost-i-want-to-be-known-for-my-childrens-books-actress-goes-from-the-hobbit-to-the-squickerwonkers-4954860/
http://metro.co.uk/2014/11/19/evangeline-lilly-forget-lost-i-want-to-be-known-for-my-childrens-books-actress-goes-from-the-hobbit-to-the-squickerwonkers-4954860/#commentsWed, 19 Nov 2014 17:10:39 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=4954860]]>

Former Lost star Evangeline Lilly has become a Children’s Book author (Picture: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

Clutching a red balloon, a little girl stumbles across a seemingly abandoned wagon on the far edge of a fairground. Intrigued, she ventures inside, only to discover herself among the Squickerwonkers, a sinister-looking travelling troupe of misfit marionettes who inhabit a topsy-turvy world of vice and mischief called the Squickershow.

‘I wrote the story when I was 14,’ says Hollywood actress Evangeline Lilly, ‘but for years I never thought it was worth publishing.’

Lilly, 35, is better known for her long stint as Lost survivor Kate Austen, a performance that earned her a Golden Globe nomination despite it being her… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/11/19/evangeline-lilly-forget-lost-i-want-to-be-known-for-my-childrens-books-actress-goes-from-the-hobbit-to-the-squickerwonkers-4954860/feed/0Former Lost star Evangeline Lilly has become a Children's Book author (Picture: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)seamusduffFormer Lost star Evangeline Lilly has become a Children's Book author (Picture: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)Tauriel, played by Evangeline Lilly, in the Hobbit 214 books you really don’t want to get caught reading on your commutehttp://metro.co.uk/2014/11/12/14-books-you-really-dont-want-to-get-caught-reading-your-commute-4946342/
http://metro.co.uk/2014/11/12/14-books-you-really-dont-want-to-get-caught-reading-your-commute-4946342/#commentsWed, 12 Nov 2014 17:49:53 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=4946342]]>

TMI (Picture: Alamy)

Forget NSFW – when it comes to picking a book what you really need to consider is whether it’s safe for your commute.

Because while fellow commuters may be too polite to properly LOL in your face, they definitely won’t feel shy about snapping a picture of you and your questionable reading material and posting it online.

So, just to make sure we’re all on the same page, here are 14 books you really wouldn’t want to be caught reading on your commute (or in some cases, anywhere, at all, ever).

This year marks the 22nd Bad Sex in Fiction Award for the most egregious passage of sexual description in a work of fiction.

This year’s shortlist features prose from the winner of this year’s Man Booker Prize, Richard Flanagan, as well as previous winner Ben Okri, and former Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cunningham.

We will have to wait until 3 December for the winner to be crowned, but in the meantime the Lit Review has treated us to a few choice excerpts to read, enjoy and throw up in our mouths over on Twitter.

When his hand brushed her nipple it tripped a switch & she came alight. He touched her belly & his hand… Read the full story]]>
http://metro.co.uk/2014/11/12/bad-sex-5-cringe-worthy-highlights-from-the-bad-sex-in-fiction-award-shortlist-4946031/feed/0sex listsextape2f-5-webellenmetrosex listsextape2f-5-web25 books that will take every Nineties kid straight back to their childhoodhttp://metro.co.uk/2014/11/07/25-books-that-will-take-every-nineties-kid-straight-back-to-their-childhood-4938714/
http://metro.co.uk/2014/11/07/25-books-that-will-take-every-nineties-kid-straight-back-to-their-childhood-4938714/#commentsFri, 07 Nov 2014 12:38:34 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=4938714]]>Yes, we watched a lot of Nickelodeon and were busy playing Super Mario on our Nintendo 64s, but contrary to popular belief we did a heck a lot of reading too.

Here’s some of the sweet, sweet books that all Nineties kids will remember reading (pretending to read during quiet reading time).

1. Goosebumps

It was terrifying, it was horrible, but you were hooked on the books and the Fox Kids TV show.

(Picture: Scholastic)

2. Animal Ark

Writter by a variety of authors, this series singlehandedly convinced you there was no doubt about it, you were going to be a vet when you grew up. Yup.

Read the full story]]>
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Career advisers look away now.

Job hunting is hard. It’s boring, repetitive and more often than not, utterly soul-destroying.

But next time you’re applying for a job, wondering how you’re ever gonna catch a break, you can console yourself with the fact that you stand more chance than this lot.

From the unfortunate typos, to CVs dripping with desperation and ill-informed honesty, these are the very best worst job applications of all time.

The last book may have been released seven years ago (what the actual eff!?) but we dedicated fans still think about the wonderful wizarding world pretty much every single damn day.

Here’s the main things that go through our heads…

1. Why is Pottermore so upsettingly awful?

2. I don’t even fully trust it to sort me into a house and assign me a wand. Am I definitely Hufflepuff? And, really, unicorn hair core? It just doesn’t feel right. I don’t feel content with these choices. I feel so distraught inside not knowing.

3. I’m *probably* not Gryffindor, but y’know I might be and I just need to know.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/28/26-thoughts-every-die-hard-harry-potter-fan-has-pretty-much-weekly-4924113/feed/0harry-potter-ginny-weasley-kiss-2560x1440-hp7hannahgale9harry-potter-ginny-weasley-kiss-2560x1440-hp7J.K Rowling to release new Harry Potter story for Halloween. This is not a drill, peoplehttp://metro.co.uk/2014/10/24/j-k-rowling-to-release-new-harry-potter-story-for-halloween-this-is-not-a-drill-people-4920333/
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JK Rowling will focus on Umbridge in a brand new Harry Potter story (Picture: AP)

Harry Potter fans, listen up. J.K Rowling has penned a brand new Potter short story – and it’s winging its way to you on Halloween.

And this time around it’ll be Professor Umbridge – Harry’s nemesis in The Order Of The Phoenix – who takes centre stage.

According to the Pottermore website the 1,700 tale will focus on Umbridge’s earlier life prior to her enounter with the boy wizard at Hogwarts.

‘Umbridge is not only one of the most malicious Potter characters, she is the only person other than Lord Voldemort to leave a permanent physical scar (on Harry),’ the site said in a statement.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/24/j-k-rowling-to-release-new-harry-potter-story-for-halloween-this-is-not-a-drill-people-4920333/feed/0IP_3959975.jpgcarolinewestbrookukmetroJK RowlingFILM 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' (2007) Imelda Staunton's Dolores UmbridgeThe Booker Prize: The modern classics that should have won (but didn’t)http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/15/the-booker-prize-the-modern-classics-that-should-have-won-but-didnt-4907180/
http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/15/the-booker-prize-the-modern-classics-that-should-have-won-but-didnt-4907180/#commentsWed, 15 Oct 2014 14:44:43 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=4907180]]>For the first time ever, the Man Booker Prize was opened to American authors this year. But in the end it was won by an Australian – Richard Flanagan, who wrote The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

It wasn’t the most well-known of the books on the list, nor was it the favourite. But then the Booker Prize has a long history of neglecting books that went on to become modern classics.

Here are some of the books that, surprisingly, were pipped to the post.

The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

In 1986 Atwood’s classic – somewhat resented by A-Level students – was nominated, but missed out to Kingsley Amis’ The Old Devils. She lost narrowly on numerous other occasions, and it wasn’t until The Blind Assassin in 2000 that she finally won the big prize.

Atonement – Ian McKellen

The novel that is probably regarded as McKellen’s masterpiece missed out in 2001 to Peter Kelly’s The… Read the full story]]>

The original Harry Potter just isn’t Christian enough according to one mother (Picture: Warner Bros Pictures)

Ever thought that Harry Potter might be that bit better if it didn’t have all those pesky wizards and witches in it? Nope, didn’t think so.

However one woman clearly disagrees, so much so that she’s taken it upon herself to write an all-new version of JK Rowling’s best-seller for her kids – one which doesn’t feature quite the same levels of sorcery.

The woman in question – a conservative Christian who goes by the name of Grace Ann – has already published the first seven chapters of her opus on Fanfiction.net, claiming she is rewriting the book for her children in a bid to keep them from the dark side.

Nearly a quarter century after his death in 1990, nearly all of author Roald Dahl’s major children’s books have been made into films.

We’ve seen two Willy Wonkas, one Matilda, The Witches and animated versions of both James and the Giant Peach and The Fantastic Mr Fox. But why have none of the following classic Dahl tales ever received the movie treatment?

1. George’s Marvellous Medicine

Memorably brought to life on Jackanory by the late Rik Mayall, this tells of George, a small boy who attempts to finish off his evil grandmother by creating a poisonous medicine of his… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/09/13/six-roald-dahl-tales-that-should-be-made-into-movies-hold-for-13-sept-4855595/feed/0AY_31726819.jpgchrishallamworldviewThe bestselling children's writer Roald Dahl (1916-1990) whose stories include 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and 'James and the Giant Peach', 1971. - Image by Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBISStephen King to Kate Bush: 10 new books you need in your life this autumnhttp://metro.co.uk/2014/09/09/stephen-king-to-kate-bush-10-new-books-you-need-in-your-life-this-autumn-4856832/
http://metro.co.uk/2014/09/09/stephen-king-to-kate-bush-10-new-books-you-need-in-your-life-this-autumn-4856832/#commentsTue, 09 Sep 2014 12:31:58 +0000http://metro.co.uk/?p=4856832]]>Now that the summer looks to be over, it’s time to start looking forward to the autumn. So have a rummage for the gorgeous knitwear hidden away in your wardrobe, make yourself a hot drink and snuggle up with a great new book.

There are lots of exciting new reads coming your way too – from the deliciously dark Stephen King’s new title to Lena Dunham’s book of essays via a photo book of a young Kate Bush.

Whatever gets you excited about reading, we’re pretty confident there’ll be something in this list of upcoming titles for you.

Ups and Downs:

1. Funny Girl by Nick Hornby (November 6)

A Long Way Down, High Fidelity, Fever Pitch – the list of brilliant titles written by Nick Hornby is long. Now, it’s getting even longer with his latest publication, Funny Girl.

The story is set in the swinging sixties and revolves around popular culture, youth and old age, fame and class.… Read the full story]]>

Here are eight books which celebrate our differences and make readers more tolerant and understanding of people:

1. Harry Potter novels by JK Rowling

At first I loved the Harry Potter novels for the sheer imagination. Then I was so glad that such books had managed to get more children into reading. Then, when I had finished all seven books, I became incredibly aware of just how superb the novels actually were. They may have been written for children but they can be enjoyed by anyone and… Read the full story]]>

Those who read the Harry Potter books are thought to be less prejudiced (Picture: Warner Bros)

Avid fans have known it for years: reading Harry Potter is incredibly good for every part of your soul.

But new research has revealed that those who read the best-selling book of all time are actually less prejudiced against society’s most heavily stigmatised groups, including gay people and immigrants.

Nice work, J.K. Rowling.

The research involved discussing chapters of the book with secondary school and university students in both Italy and the UK and found that those who related with Harry himself, as opposed to relating to Voldermort, had ‘improved attitudes’ compared to other students.

Everyone wants to be an author, to work your own hours and let your imagination run wild, to live the life of JK Rowling, earn millions and see people across the world love and adore your writing. Right?

Over the last few years I have spoken with numerous authors who have shared their wisdom with me. I have also spent a lot of my own time writing and can testify that the below is completely correct.

Well sort of…

1. Writers are really cool and glamorous

Writers spend all their time going to glamorous book launches and giving talks at high profile festivals. They may not be quite at the red carpet glamour of the film world but authors really do… Read the full story]]>

Wow, that’s a lot of memorabilia. On the plus side, at least she has a magic wand, a odd house elf – and a fair few brooms – to tidy her room with.

Yes, this may well be the world’s biggest Harry Potter fangirl.

26-year-old, Katie Aiani, from California, boasts a vast collection of memorabilia, including wands, Gryffindor robes, broomsticks and figurines, which is valued at a stonking £40k.

She’s been amassing her collection since she first read the books at the age of 11 and told MailOnline: ‘My Harry Potter obsession began when I overheard the words ‘Alas! Earwax’. Okay, that probably needs explaining… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/07/08/potty-about-harry-harry-potter-super-fan-spends-40k-on-memorabilia-4791130/feed/0alisonlynch2013Harry Potter superfan Mercury Press & Media Ltdalisonlynch2013Harry Potter superfan Mercury Press & Media LtdFile photo dated 23/08/2000 of Actor Daniel Radcliffe (centre) with co-stars Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) and Emma Watson (Hermione Granger). After six films and nearly ten years of Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe is glad to be hanging up his Quidditch broomstick. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Tuesday July 6, 2009. While many fans would relish the chance to mount a flying broomstick and get stuck into a game, the 19-year-old actor said the wizarding sport was the worst thing about making the movies. See PA story SHOWBIZ Potter Quidditch. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA WireJK Rowling letterDon’t get too excited, but JK Rowling has written a new short story featuring a thirtysomething Harry Potterhttp://metro.co.uk/2014/07/08/dont-get-too-excited-but-jk-rowling-has-written-a-new-short-featuring-a-thirtysomething-harry-potter-4790705/
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Ever wondered what Harry Potter might be like as an adult? Well your questions have been answered by JK Rowling herself.

That’s because the author has just published a new story on the fan website Pottermore, featuring Harry, Ron, Hermione – and several other regulars from the Potter books – embracing life in their thirties as they reunited at the 2014 Quidditch World Cup final.

And apart from the odd grey hair – not to mention a nasty cut over his right cheekbone – the boy wizard, now aged 34, doesn’t seem to have changed much.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/07/08/dont-get-too-excited-but-jk-rowling-has-written-a-new-short-featuring-a-thirtysomething-harry-potter-4790705/feed/0The special effects will be much better next time (Picture: Warner Bros)carolinewestbrookukmetroHarry PotterJ.K. RowlingA bunch of authors dressed up as their favourite literary characters and it was brillianthttp://metro.co.uk/2014/07/01/a-bunch-of-authors-dressed-up-as-their-favourite-literary-characters-and-it-was-brilliant-4782052/
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Terrty Pratchet as Just William (Picture: Cambridge Jones)

Photographer Cambridge Jones has taken a series of amazing photographs in which authors dress up as their favourite characters from fiction.

Girls of a certain age will remember Judy Blume’s teen fiction very well. Her classic tome Forever was basically what constituted sex education in the early 90s when the government wasn’t quite so ars*d about the whole thing.

It’s surely time for a re-read – nostalgia porn might be about to become our new favourite thing.

Other classics we read were Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (who else still hears ‘I must, I must increase my bust when they look in the mirror? Just us? Oh) and, of course, Blubber.

Well, now the lady we’ve ordained Jilly-Cooper-for-slightly-younger-teens (catchy) is back with a new adult novel, her first since the safe… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/06/26/sexpert-for-a-generation-judy-blumes-back-with-her-first-adult-book-in-16-years-4776241/feed/0alisonlynch2013alisonlynch2013alisonlynch2013Judy's just finessing the final details before publication (Picture: Katy Winn/AP)alisonlynch2013Remember sex education in the early 90s? (Picture: Amazon)Just Judy Blume on a bike (Picture: Reuters)Judy's just finessing the final details before publication (Picture: Katy Winn/AP)Elmer the Patchwork Elephant: David McKee’s colourful character turns 25http://metro.co.uk/2014/06/16/elmer-the-patchwork-elephant-david-mckees-colourful-character-turns-25-4760402/
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Cool customer… Elmer the Patchwork Elephant tries on some shades (Picture: David McKee)

They say elephants never forget. But anyone who has read a children’s book in the past quarter of a century is unlikely to forget one particular elephant.

There are colourful characters, and then there is Elmer the Patchwork Elephant, who is this summer celebrating his 25th anniversary with Andersen Press publishers. A friendly beast whose skin is splashed with red, green, yellow, blue, white, black, orange, pink and purple squares, Elmer isn’t your typical elephant. But he is a very successful one.

The Elmer books, written and illustrated by British author David McKee, have sold more than seven million copies worldwide. And when you sell that many books, some people get picky… Read the full story]]>

Kate Bohdanowicz has a Little Free Library in her front garden. Could one pop up near you soon?

This morning, I walked out of our front door in Walthamstow, east London, to the multicoloured box at the front gate, where a small child was leafing through a copy of More About Waggy by Patricia Scarry. His mother explained they had just dropped off a couple of his well-read Mr Men titles and in return he was taking this charming 1970s story about a dog with a waggy tail.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/06/10/the-little-libraries-thinking-big-in-east-london-4756414/feed/0claireallfreeAD_136692447.jpgclaireallfreeKate Bohdanowicz reads to children outside her Little Free Library in Walthamstow (Picture: Juliana Vasquez)Passers by take a peek inside the library in Kate BohBohdanowicz's garden (Picture: Juliana Vasquez)Little Libraries have sprung up around the US and Australia (Pictures: supplied)On 70th anniversary of D-Day these nudie pics of soldiers shed new light on wartime lifehttp://metro.co.uk/2014/06/06/on-70th-anniversary-of-d-day-these-nudie-pics-of-soldiers-shed-new-light-on-wartime-life-4751632/
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Three’s a crowd…or not (Picture: Jim Heimann Collection/TASCHEN)

Today is the 70th anniversary of D-day, marking the beginning of the end of the Second World War.

And while we take time to remember the men and women who fought for our freedom, a new book has shed light on a mostly secret side of army life.

My Buddy: World War II Laid Bare, is a collection of incredible photographs showing allied troops (from the UK, America and Australia among others), as you’ve never seen them before, i.e. in the buff.

Read the full story]]>http://metro.co.uk/2014/06/06/on-70th-anniversary-of-d-day-these-nudie-pics-of-soldiers-shed-new-light-on-wartime-life-4751632/feed/0AD_136896111.jpgsiamg1Three's a crowd...or not (Picture: Jim Heimann Collection/TASCHEN)AD_136896112.jpgAD_136896106.jpgAD_136896100.jpgAD_136896096.jpgAD_136896094.jpgAD_136896093.jpgAD_136896116.jpgFrom Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History: 25 of the best books ever written by womenhttp://metro.co.uk/2014/06/02/from-jane-austens-pride-and-prejudice-to-donna-tartts-the-secret-history-25-of-the-best-books-ever-written-by-women-4746247/
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With the winner of this year’s Baileys Prize soon to be announced, we’ve been discussing our favourite books written by female authors.

From Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, there were plenty of novels we all read and loved.

Here are 25 of the best books written by women…

1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

You only need to look at the outcry following Michael Gove’s ‘banning’ of To Kill A Mockingbird to see how highly regarded the novel is by so many. An emotive and inspiring work tackling the issue of racial inequality, there’s a reason this book is a classic.

2. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

This dystopian novel, set in a near future where a Christian dictatorship has replaced the United States government, is a favourite among English literature students (myself included). Haunting.

Bare bones: Tanya Byron’s book features unrecognisable composites of her patients (Picture: BBC)

A gruesome family death set Tanya Byron on the path to becoming a child psychologist, a journey she describes in her new book.

How did you get here? Why now? What is your story and how would you like it to continue? For 25 years, psychologist Prof Tanya Byron has been asking these questions of her patients to help them ‘make that journey from chaos to clarity’.

Last year, while writing The Skeleton Cupboard, a memoir of her early years training as a clinical psychologist from 1989 to 1992, she asked them of herself.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/05/22/the-skeleton-cupboard-author-tanya-byron-i-was-15-her-brains-were-on-the-floor-4736705/feed/0Charlotte GunnellAD_3914921.jpgcharlottegunnellDr Tanya Byron in Am I Normal television programme'LITTLE ANGELS' Tanya Byron and one of the children from the series Matthew ChristieTeen Angels with Dr Tanya Byron and Dr Stephen BriersBedtime Live with Presenters Jake Humphrey and Tanya ByronFallout author Sadie Jones: People don’t treat Martin Amis like thishttp://metro.co.uk/2014/05/08/fallout-author-sadie-jones-people-dont-treat-martin-amis-like-this-4720513/
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Sadie Jones’s new novel, Fallout, features a character highlighting<br />‘the ugly side of feminity’ (Picture: Jonathan Greet)

Sadie Jones is sick of being described as nice. She is fed up with journalists talking about her looks or what the inside of her house looks like.

Ever since she won the 2008 Costa for her debut novel, The Outcast, there have been gushing pieces about her writing (four excellent novels to date) but also about her appearance and her lifestyle – she lives in Chiswick, west London, with architect Tim Boyd.

One (female) journalist even began an interview suggesting aspiring writers will ‘want to hate Sadie Jones’ for her ‘sultry good… Read the full story]]>

Sophie Bennett turned her life around after she was £68,000 in debt (Picture: John Cleary Photography)

She may have gone from being £68,000 in debt to making her first £1million property deal in just seven years but Sophie Bennett still isn’t sure whether money buys you happiness.

‘I think it can… I don’t think it can… er, hang on,’ she says. ‘I don’t believe it can in isolation, no. I believe not having it does buy unhappiness, though. Not having money can make you very unhappy. Having enough money can allow you to look for what really makes you happy.’

http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/30/sophie-bennett-im-a-self-made-millionaire-who-wont-purchase-a-lamborghini-4713158/feed/0AD_133420395.jpgstaceymcintoshSophie Bennett turned her life around after she was £68,000 in debt (Picture: John Cleary Photography)In her new book, Sophie Bennett reveals how she went from rock bottom to millionaire (Picture: supplied)Sophie Bennett recommends clearing your credit card debt before cutting up your cards (Picture: Alamy)Joël Dicker’s The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair: New kid deposes Stieghttp://metro.co.uk/2014/04/24/joel-dickers-the-truth-about-the-harry-quebert-affair-new-kid-deposes-stieg-4707481/
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Joël Dicker’s The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair has sold two million copies across Europe (Picture: Jeremy Spierer)

The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair begins with an author, Marcus Goldman, feeling besieged by his own hype. At 28, he has written a twisty whodunnit that has become ‘the talk of the town’.

Could 28-year-old Swiss author Joël Dicker have had any inkling just how prophetic a description of his own future success that opening might be when he completed this, his second book, in May 2012? The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair, one of the biggest French-language novels in years, has sold more than two million copies across Europe, with the rights bought by 45 countries. An immersive, propulsive, continually wrongfooting twister… Read the full story]]>

If you’re a fan of Caitlin Moran or Lena Dunham, there’s a pretty good chance you’d call yourself a feminist – in which case, you’re in luck as 2014 look set to be a huge year for books all to do with talking about feminism from some of the world’s wittiest women.

Check out our rundown of the most hotly anticipated reads this year has to offer…

Caitlin Moran release a follow up to How to Be a Woman (Picture:… Read the full story]]>http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/23/six-female-power-reads-for-2014-4706161/feed/0Sarah MusgroveSarah MusgroveSarah MusgroveSarah MusgroveLena DunhamsarahmusgroveLena DunhamCaitlin MoranLena DunhamAmy PoehlerAll The Things You Are author Clemency Burton-Hill: I have the desire to tell storieshttp://metro.co.uk/2014/04/22/all-the-things-you-are-author-clemency-burton-hill-i-have-the-desire-to-tell-stories-4702441/
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Clemency Burton-Hill is a Radio 3 presenter (Picture: Jude Edginton)

‘It sounds like a real spoilt-brat thing to say but I left because I wanted to do lots of different things,’ says 32-year-old media all-rounder Clemency Burton-Hill.

She’s talking about the decision to leave her first job out of university – as a writer at Vogue magazine, one most wannabe journos would be desperate to get. ‘I realised working full-time in one place wasn’t going to be for me.’

Burton-Hill, daughter of former BBC arts supremo Humphrey Burton, already had her careers as a violinist and actress to fall back on. She’d appeared on football soap Dream Team before completing her English degree at Cambridge University and went… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/22/all-the-things-you-are-author-clemency-burton-hill-i-have-the-desire-to-tell-stories-4702441/feed/0AD_132473160.jpgstaceymcintoshClemency Burton-Hill is a Radio 3 presenter (Picture: Jude Edginton)Rupert Evans and Clemency Burton-Hill in The Palace (Picture: ITV)Clemency Burton-Hill'snew book is a love story set in New York and Israel (Picture: supplied)Clemency Burton Hill and Shelley Conn in Party Animals (Picture: BBC)David Adam: OCD? It took me 20 years to get helphttp://metro.co.uk/2014/04/16/david-adam-ocd-it-took-me-20-years-to-get-help-4700892/
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Anxiety issues: David Adam’s OCD has caused him to have a fear of catching HIV (Picture: Roland Hoskins)

Obsessive compulsive disorder has plagued the life of author David Adam but he’s working hard to control the condition

It was his reaction to a smear of blood on his baby daughter’s leg that finally convinced David Adam he needed medical help for his obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).The blood had almost certainly come from a scratch on the 38-year-old first-time father’s own finger but, gripped by an irrational paranoia that he or his daughter might have contracted HIV in the course of… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/16/david-adam-ocd-it-took-me-20-years-to-get-help-4700892/feed/0AD_132030477.jpgmartinstevens2013Features-David Adams who is an OCD sufferer. He has written a book about his condition. His condition manifested itself with the thoughts that he would catch Aids.Camilla Lackberg: My love affair with crime started aged sevenhttp://metro.co.uk/2014/04/15/camilla-lackberg-my-love-affair-with-crime-started-aged-seven-4699133/
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The first thing you notice about Swedish crime-writing sensation Camilla Läckberg is that she is really quite beautiful. The second thing is the 39-year-old’s disarming honesty about her approach to crime fiction.

Not for her the agenda-driven, left-wing-leaning narratives of Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell, two of Sweden’s most lauded crime authors.

‘My job is to simply tell a good story and to entertain the reader,’ she says in her lightly accented English. ‘We are all so stressed and have so many troubles with the economy and troubled marriages and whatnot – I want to help people escape for a… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/15/camilla-lackberg-my-love-affair-with-crime-started-aged-seven-4699133/feed/0Camilla Lackberg: 'My job is simply to tell a good story' (Picture: Bingo Rimer)pauldietrich2013Camilla Lackberg: 'My job is simply to tell a good story' (Picture: Bingo Rimer)Camilla Lackberg: 'I'm just not a very political person' (Picture: Bingo Rimer)10 life lessons learned from Adrian Molehttp://metro.co.uk/2014/04/11/10-life-lessons-learned-from-adrian-mole-4695820/
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Sue Townsend has died at the age of 68 (Picture: Jonathan Hordle/REX)

For those of us who grew up alongside Adrian Mole, Sue Townsend’s death feels much like the passing of your most awesome aunt.

You know, the one who told you about sex and taught you how to sneak out of your bedroom window at night.

From her, through Adrian, we all learned so much about life and how cruelly it was going to treat us.

Here are some of their best lessons…

1. Don’t get too attached to your pets, for they will die

Growing up, Adrian’s first dog is called The Dog. And when that dog dies, his next dog is called The New Dog. Adrian was a… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/11/10-life-lessons-learned-from-adrian-mole-4695820/feed/0marthadelaceymarthadelaceymarthadelaceymarthadelaceymarthadelaceymarthadelaceymarthadelaceymarthadelaceymarthadelaceymarthadelaceymarthadelaceyadrianmarthadelaceySue Townsend has died at the age of 68 (Picture: Jonathan Hordle/REX)puppypandora lovepenisspotsbookold mannemesisshockcryingoffalThe reported decline of the ebook has been greatly exaggeratedhttp://metro.co.uk/2014/04/07/the-reported-decline-of-the-ebook-has-been-greatly-exaggerated-4688830/
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Kindle for the fire? Amazon’s e-reader (Picture: AP)

Throw your Kindles and Kobos to the wind – and start building some more bookshelves. For the age of the ebook is nearing its end.

That is according to the founder of Waterstones, Tim Waterstone, who said last month that he had read and heard ‘more garbage about the strength of the ebook revolution than anything else I’ve known’.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/07/the-reported-decline-of-the-ebook-has-been-greatly-exaggerated-4688830/feed/0Amazon Kindlerossmcguinness20The 7-inch Amazon Kindle HDX, is shown on the optional folding "Origami" stand that also protects the screen when not in use, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2013, in Seattle. Amazon has refreshed its line-up of tablets with two new HDX devices, which are significantly faster and lighter than the previous generation. APThe author Emma Donoghue on her real life inspirationshttp://metro.co.uk/2014/04/01/the-author-emma-donoghue-on-her-real-life-inspirations-4684897/
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Emma Donoghue, author of Room, is haunted by history (Picture: supplied)

‘I’ve never touched a frog, I’m so squeamish,’ bestselling novelist Emma Donoghue tells me as we sit in a Georgian hotel in central London. ‘But it was such a gift to me that it was the thing Jenny [a 19th-century frog-catcher] was hunting, as they are a wonderful symbol – they’re playful and versatile but terribly fragile as a species because of that moist skin that picks up every toxin.’

Frog Music, Donoghue’s 12th book of fiction, transports readers to San Francisco, 1876, and revolves around the true-life crime of Jenny Bonnet’s mysterious murder and the slippery lives of her acquaintances: French burlesque dancer Blanche, her… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/01/the-author-emma-donoghue-on-her-real-life-inspirations-4684897/feed/0Emma Donoghue, author of Room, is haunted by history (Picture: supplied)claireallfreeEmma Donoghue, author of Room, is haunted by history (Picture: supplied)‘But he was still hungry': The Very Hungry Caterpillar celebrates his 45th birthdayhttp://metro.co.uk/2014/03/20/the-very-hungry-caterpillar-celebrates-his-45th-birthday-4655287/
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The Very Hungry Caterpillar is 45 years old (Picture: Eric Carle)

It is the most celebrated junk food binge in literary history.

And it sounds like a great way to spend a Saturday: eating your way through chocolate cake, ice-cream, a pickle, Swiss cheese, salami, a lollipop, cherry pie, a sausage, a cupcake and a slice of watermelon.

All this was on the menu in the space of 24 hours for the unlikely hero of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, one of the world’s best loved children’s books. But after all that greasy grub, why did he need to munch on some watermelon at the end?

Those familiar with the book will know that eating a hole through all that food left the very hungry caterpillar with… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/20/the-very-hungry-caterpillar-celebrates-his-45th-birthday-4655287/feed/0rossmcguinness20rossmcguinness20rossmcguinness20rossmcguinness20rossmcguinness20rossmcguinness2045th Badge Diecutrossmcguinness20(Picture: Eric Carle)2003-hungry-pt12003-hungry-pt2EC surrounded by productUS President George W. Bush reads a children's book called "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to second-grade students as they participate in Back to School activities at the Griegos Elementary School, 15 August 2001 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Bush is on a one-day visit to New Mexico to push his education agenda before returning to his ranch in Texas to continue his month-long working vacation. EPA PHOTO AFPI/MIKE THEILER/mt/sd...POL...GOVERNMENT...ALBUQUERQUE...NM...UNITED STATESWe Are All Completely Beside Ourselves: the new novel by the author of The Jane Austen Book Clubhttp://metro.co.uk/2014/03/13/we-are-all-completely-beside-ourselves-the-new-novel-by-the-author-of-the-jane-austen-book-club-4544661/
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We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is a comic yet tragic family tale. (Picture: Ian Dodds)
Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina begins with the saying that each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Karen Fowler’s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is a family narrative which takes that to new heights of oddity, to the extent that its narrator, Rosemary, ducks out when a group of her peers vie with each other about who comes from the weirdest background. Had she joined in, she’d have trumped the others effortlessly.

Rosemary’s family background is so odd, and has left her with a legacy of such profound loss and grief, that the once… Read the full story]]>

Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark’s novel sees a woman exploring why an old lady left her home to someone she glimpsed 30 years earlier.

I set the novel in 2006 so Elizabeth Pringle [the old lady who gives away her house] could have lived through both World Wars, the first as a child and the second as an adult. We are at the end of that era now. I wanted to address the fact that in our contemporary society, there can be a kind of dismissal of a person in their late eighties… Read the full story]]>

Lorrie Moore’s Debarking in her collection Bark has the Iraq invasion of 2003 as its backdrop (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)

At 57, US author Lorrie Moore has little to prove, with a haul of prizes and an audience hooked on her tales of smart Midwesterners blindsided by heartache, illness and grief.

Her best-known story, People Like That Are The Only People Here: Canonical Babbling In Peed Onk, follows a couple whose baby has a kidney tumour – peed onk being short for paediatric oncology, or the child cancer ward.

Moore has a playful take on such raw subjects: another story about cancer (it’s a theme) fills two pages with the victim thinking… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/06/bark-by-lorrie-moore-a-fine-introduction-to-a-master-writers-short-stories-4428716/feed/0Lorrie Moore's Debarking in her collection Bark has the Iraq invasion of 2003 as its backdrop (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)pauldietrich2013Lorrie Moore's Debarking in her collection Bark has the Iraq invasion of 2003 as its backdrop (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)Ben Watt’s Romany And Tom retraces the lives of the Everything But The Girl member’s parentshttp://metro.co.uk/2014/03/05/ben-watts-romany-and-tom-retraces-the-lives-of-the-everything-but-the-girl-members-parents-4411218/
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Ben Watt: ‘The internet has made us all more narcissistic’ (Picture: supplied)

One half of pop duo Everything But The Girl, Ben Watt retraces the lives of his jazz musician father and actress mother in new book Romany And Tom.

My father was a Glaswegian working-class jazz musician and my mother a middle-class Shakespearean actress. Romany And Tom is about ambition and stardom, the death of British big band jazz, family roots and secrets, and how we love and live with each other for a long time.

For years I was only a songwriter and singer/guitarist with my wife Tracey Thorn in Everything But The Girl. Then, after a life-threatening illness in 1992, I wrote a… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/05/ben-watts-romany-and-tom-retraces-the-lives-of-the-everything-but-the-girl-members-parents-4411218/feed/0Ben Watt: ‘The internet has made us all more narcissistic’ (Picture: supplied)tomfulfordjonesBen Watt: ‘The internet has made us all more narcissistic’ (Picture: supplied)Young Adult author Sally Green: a mum with the magic touchhttp://metro.co.uk/2014/03/05/young-adult-author-sally-green-a-mum-with-the-magic-touch-4411968/
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Sally Green’s debut novel for young adults was sold for a six-figure sum (Picture: Mark Allen)

Sally Green talks about her overnight success as a novelist with the witch-themed Half Bad.

There aren’t many authors who can claim of their debut novel ‘published March 2014 in a country near you’. But not only did Sally Green’s first effort, Half Bad, become a Young Adult (YA) No.1 bestseller in advance of its British publication this week, the foreign rights have already been sold to a record 45 places.

Half Bad is a pacey supernatural thriller – imagine a dark-as-hell Harry Potter meeting The Bourne Identity – publishers Penguin hope will be a British… Read the full story]]>

Author Helen Oyeyemi moved to Britain age four but now lives in Prague (Picture: Piotr Cieplak)

It’s a surprise when Helen Oyeyemi cites the Eurovision Song Contest as a major life influence. She is, after all, a literary star, recently labelled one of the world’s coolest twentysomethings by the New York Times. You expect Dostoevsky but not necessarily Diggi-Loo, Diggi-Ley (Sweden, 1984, the year of her birth).

But it was watching the contest, as much as her love of the great European writers, which inspired her to become a literary gipsy. ‘Eurovision made me realise that, since I had a European passport, I could go and see all the amazing places… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/27/helen-oyeyemis-boy-snow-bird-challenges-notions-of-race-and-beauty-4324604/feed/0Author Helen Oyeyemi moved to Britain age four but now lives in Prague (Picture: Piotr Cieplak)emmahutchingsAuthor Helen Oyeyemi moved to Britain age four but now lives in Prague (Picture: Piotr Cieplak)Helen Oyeyemi published her first novel aged 20 (Picture: Saneesh Sukumaran)The Martian: Can 500 five-star Amazon UK reviews be wrong? Sadly, yeshttp://metro.co.uk/2014/02/27/the-martian-can-500-five-star-amazon-uk-reviews-be-wrong-sadly-yes-4323731/
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The Gospel Of Loki by Joanne M Harris, The Martian by Andy Weir, and The Echo by James Smythe (Picture: Supplied)

Borrowing a trick from Iain M Banks, Joanne Michèle Harris has added the same middle initial to signal a foray into the fantasy genre with The Gospel Of Loki (Gollancz). It’s a familiar fictional world, though, as Harris recreates the rise and fall of the Norse gods through the eyes of Loki – Odin’s go-to god for skullduggery.

Harris has enormous fun with her anti-hero, who mocks the hammer-wielding Thor as having ‘more beard than brain’. Known as the trickster god, Loki revels in the… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/27/the-martian-can-500-five-star-amazon-uk-reviews-be-wrong-sadly-yes-4323731/feed/0joannesmith2013The Gospel Of Loki by Joanne M Harris, The Martian by Andy Weir, and The Echo by James Smythe (Picture: Supplied)joannesmith2013The Gospel Of Loki by Joanne M Harris, The Martian by Andy Weir, and The Echo by James Smythe (Picture: Supplied)Danny Dorling’s All That Is Solid: The real reason you can’t afford a househttp://metro.co.uk/2014/02/26/danny-dorlings-all-that-is-solid-the-real-reason-you-cant-afford-a-house-4319817/
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In All That Is Solid Danny Dorling spells out some home truths about the housing crisis (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)

Review: All That Is Solid – The Great Housing Disaster by Danny Dorling (Allen Lane)

We all need a roof over our heads. But fewer and fewer of us can afford one – not when first-time buyers in London, for example, need to fork out an average of £60,000 for a deposit.

And yet the ball and chain of a mortgage can look seductive if you’re a tenant shunted around every time your landlord hikes up the rent under the sway of an estate agent out to line their own pocket.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/26/danny-dorlings-all-that-is-solid-the-real-reason-you-cant-afford-a-house-4319817/feed/0In All That Is Solid Danny Dorling spells out some home truths about the housing crisis (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)pauldietrich2013In All That Is Solid Danny Dorling spells out some home truths about the housing crisis (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)Helen Walsh’s The Lemon Grove pushes the boundaries between older women and younger lovershttp://metro.co.uk/2014/02/26/helen-walshs-the-lemon-grove-pushes-the-boundaries-between-older-women-and-younger-lovers-4319358/
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Sexy novel: Helen Walsh’s tense story is set on the island of Mallorca (Picture: Alamy)

I wrote this novel in winter, dreaming of summer. I did sit on a beach while writing the first draft but it was in Llandudno, North Wales. We hadn’t been able to afford a holiday abroad that year.

I have an ongoing love affair with Mallorca. I always wanted to write a novel set there, to immortalise the coastal paths between Deià and Sóller. After writing my first draft, I revisited Deià, looking at the landscape through the eyes of the main character, Jenn.

I understand why Jenn does what she does but I don’t sympathise or empathise with… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/26/helen-walshs-the-lemon-grove-pushes-the-boundaries-between-older-women-and-younger-lovers-4319358/feed/0Sexy novel: Helen Walsh’s tense story is set on the island of Mallorca (Picture: Alamy)joannesmith2013Sexy novel: Helen Walsh’s tense story is set on the island of Mallorca (Picture: Alamy)Mandela screenwriter and Reckless author William Nicholson on what he’s reading nowhttp://metro.co.uk/2014/02/26/mandela-screenwriter-and-reckless-author-william-nicholsons-on-what-hes-reading-now-4319960/
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The Luminaries by Eleanor CattonI’ve got this for the same reason as everyone else, because it won the Booker, and I need to know what I think about it.

I was put off by the astrology stuff, which isn’t my bag, but I’ve now glanced at the first page or two and they excite me. It looks like it’ll be really absorbing, so it’s coming with me on my next trip.

She had three unpublished novels in a drawer and was working at The Independent writing 500 words on the best way to stuff a turkey when her agent phoned to tell her that her fourth attempt had been sold.

‘I was heavily pregnant with my second child and I burst into tears when I realised I wouldn’t have to go back to work full time after having the baby,’ she laughs. ‘I still filed the turkey piece on time.’

The Railway Man by Eric Lomax
A true story of a man captured by the Japanese in World War II. I didn’t like the start – far too much anorak-y stuff about trains – but I’m glad I stuck with it. It made me cry, I felt angry at man’s inhumanity to man and yet uplifted by the way Eric finally came to terms with the suffering he’d endured and was able to forgive.

The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier
This is an intensely visual and moving story of a young Quaker woman, Honor Bright, who emigrates from Dorset to Ohio in the United States… Read the full story]]>

The Days Of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin, The Crooked Maid by Dan Vyleta and Barcelona Shadows by Marc Pastor (Picture: supplied)

Some cities define a novel as much as its central characters. Armistead Maupin’s much-loved Tales Of The City series is a case in point, with San Francisco being the only possible setting for his endearing, gender-fluid characters.

In his latest book, The Days Of Anna Madrigal (Doubleday, £18.99), as well as charting developments in the San Francisco scene, he takes his characters on a journey not just to the way-out-there Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert but back in time to a… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/20/armistead-maupin-dan-vyleta-and-marc-pastor-new-fiction-reviewed-4310388/feed/0The Days Of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin, The Crooked Maid by Dan Vyleta and Barcelona Shadows by Marc Pastor (Picture: supplied)pauldietrich2013The Days Of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin, The Crooked Maid by Dan Vyleta and Barcelona Shadows by Marc Pastor (Picture: supplied)Tom Rob Smith describes his mother’s psychosis – which inspired new book The Farmhttp://metro.co.uk/2014/02/18/tom-rob-smith-describes-his-mothers-psychosis-which-inspired-new-book-the-farm-4307538/
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The Farm author Tom Rob Smith learnt a lot about psychosis after his mother suffered from it (Picture: Uwe Zucchi/Corbis)

Best-selling thriller writer Tom Rob Smith’s world was turned upside down three years ago, when his mother arrived on his doorstep informing him she was being spied on and that his dad and their neighbours were conspiring against her.

Smith’s parents had retired from their careers as antique dealers in London to live on a farm in Sweden. As far as Smith knew, all was going well until the day his father phoned to tell him he suspected his mum was mentally ill. Hours later, she arrived in… Read the full story]]>

The award-winning poet has a passion for great storytelling, poetry and writing. Here he reveals what’s on his e-reader.

Dr Thorne by Anthony Trollope
I’m adapting some of Trollope’s Barchester novels for Radio 4 and this one’s next so I’m carrying it around with me everywhere. He’s one of our greatest storytellers and his characters sing off the page as vividly as ever, torn between love and duty, generosity and greed.

Read the full story]]>http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/13/award-winning-poet-michael-symmons-roberts-anthony-trollope-is-one-of-our-greatest-storytellers-4301235/feed/0carolynfaulderMichael Symmons Roberts has a passion for great storytelling, poetry and writing (Picture: Andrew Crowley)carolynfaulderMichael Symmons Roberts has a passion for great storytelling, poetry and writing (Picture: Andrew Crowley)Books by Anthony Trollope, John Donne and James Salter (Picture: Supplied)Barbara Taylor’s The Last Asylum: A Memoir Of Madness In Our Times is a compelling personal and social historyhttp://metro.co.uk/2014/02/13/barbara-taylors-the-last-asylum-a-memoir-of-madness-in-our-times-is-a-compelling-personal-and-social-history-4301279/
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Book review: The Last Asylum – A Memoir Of Madness In Our Times by Barbara Taylor

In the popular imagination, fed by films and horror stories, the looming Victorian lunatic asylums were places of terror.

Pictures of the abandoned buildings regularly crop up on listicles alongside adjectives such as ‘haunting’ and ‘chilling’. To historian Barbara Taylor, though, Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum (later known as Friern Hospital), where she spent a total of eight months… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/13/barbara-taylors-the-last-asylum-a-memoir-of-madness-in-our-times-is-a-compelling-personal-and-social-history-4301279/feed/0carolynfaulderHistorian Barbara Taylor's book, The Last Asylum: A Memoir Of Madness In Our Times, documents the eight months she spent at Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)carolynfaulderHistorian Barbara Taylor's book, The Last Asylum: A Memoir Of Madness In Our Times, documents the eight months she spent at Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)The Last Asylum: A Memoir Of Madness In Our Times by Barbara Taylor (Picture: Supplied)Naomi Wood: Lots of women have had a Hemingway in their liveshttp://metro.co.uk/2014/02/12/naomi-wood-lots-of-women-have-had-a-hemingway-in-their-lives-4300162/
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Naomi Wood’s new book Mrs Hemingway charts the fortunes of the great writer’s four wives (Picture: Geraint Lewis)

‘It’s an insane project,’ Naomi Wood laughs as she talks about the challenges of bringing legendary American writer Ernest Hemingway and his four wives alive on the page. ‘I often thought I was crazy, but three and a half years later, it’s done.’

The result is Mrs Hemingway, a boozy whistlestop tour through all the best places to be in the first half of the 20th century, with the four brave women who took a ride on the mercurial Hemingway’s roller coaster. Wood’s interest in Hemingway started when she read The… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/12/naomi-wood-lots-of-women-have-had-a-hemingway-in-their-lives-4300162/feed/0emmahutchingsNaomi Wood's new book Mrs Hemingway charts the fortunes of the great writer's four wives (Picture: Geraint Lewis)emmahutchingsNaomi Wood's new book Mrs Hemingway charts the fortunes of the great writer's four wives (Picture: Geraint Lewis)Ernest Hemingway with his fourth wife, Mary, in Cuba in 1948 (Picture: John F. Kennedy Library and Museum)Ernest Hemingway with third wife Martha Gellhorn in Hawaii, 1941 (Picture: supplied)Try these anti-romance books, from Julian Barnes's Before She Met Me to The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (Pictures: supplied)New book Red Fortress shows Putin is one of Russia’s nicest leadershttp://metro.co.uk/2014/02/11/new-book-red-fortress-shows-putin-is-one-of-russias-nicest-leaders-4297759/
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If you think you understand Russia, then it’s a pretty sure sign that you definitely, definitely don’t. Few countries have as complicated a past as the Eastern giant and probably none have as convoluted a present.

With the controversial Sochi Winter Olympics underway, many of us feel obliged to have an opinion on the country and its authoritarian president, Vladimir Putin, even if that view is based on relatively few facts.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/11/new-book-red-fortress-shows-putin-is-one-of-russias-nicest-leaders-4297759/feed/0emmahutchingsRussian President Vladimir Putin and Olympic Village Mayor Elena Isinbaeva visit the Coastal Cluster Olympic Village ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at the Athletes Village in Sochi (Picture: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty)emmahutchingsRussian President Vladimir Putin and Olympic Village Mayor Elena Isinbaeva visit the Coastal Cluster Olympic Village ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at the Athletes Village in Sochi (Picture: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty)Get an in-depth perspective on Russia with Words Will Break Cement, Kicking The Kremlin and Red Fortress (Pictures: supplied)Author Adam Foulds: We have lived through a decade of conflict and theatres of warhttp://metro.co.uk/2014/02/05/author-adam-foulds-we-have-lived-through-a-decade-of-conflict-and-theatres-of-war-4290739/
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Novelist and poet Adam Foulds, 39, on what inspired In The Wolf’s Mouth, set mainly in Sicily during World War II.

On holiday a few years ago, I was struck by the weird atmosphere of western Sicily, and intrigued and disturbed by how different it felt to other parts of Italy. In my guidebook, there was this historical detail that when the Mafiosi had been fleeing the fascists in the 1920s, a few of them had done so in false coffins bound for the US. The coffins had air vents in them. A bit out to sea, the coffins… Read the full story]]>

Some writers would rather do anything but discuss their own work. Not Jonathan Lethem. A wiry bundle of passionate and lucid self-analysis, the guy can talk. And talk.

I’m waiting at his publisher’s office near the Thames when he swoops in from the rain, ready to bat for the British release of his new novel, Dissident Gardens. A postwar family saga about Rose Angrush, a Jewish communist in Lethem’s native New York, it’s a funny, often filthy book with a heavy subject – the slow death of political alternatives to capitalism after Stalin tainted Marxism.

‘I’m guessing you walk out of the gym feeling kind of invigorated, yet your results are middle of the road,’… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/30/true-bloods-joe-manganiello-im-famous-for-taking-my-shirt-off-and-growling-4282414/feed/0AD_125849824.jpgstaceymcintoshJoe Manganiello says you should be barely able to walk after a decent gym session (Picture: Patrik Giardino)Joe Manganiello formed a production company with his brother (Picture: supplied)Joe Manganiello's new fitness book (Picture: supplied)Where Memories Go is a tender portrait by Sally Magnusson of her mum’s frustration with dementiahttp://metro.co.uk/2014/01/30/where-memories-go-is-a-tender-portrait-by-sally-magnusson-of-her-mums-frustration-with-dementia-4282097/
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Sally Magnusson highlights her mum’s battle with dementia in her new book (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)

Do the words ‘to lose a parent’ mean something different to the children of dementia sufferers?

Mamie Baird Magnusson died in April, 2012, aged 86. Her children had already been grappling with her loss for more than a decade. The warm, sparky, strong and inquisitive woman who had piloted their lives had gradually receded from view as dementia dimmed her sharp mind.

In her place was a frail old lady, in need of round-the-clock care, whose frustration at her failure to comprehend the world around her sometimes manifested itself in anger, even anguish.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/30/where-memories-go-is-a-tender-portrait-by-sally-magnusson-of-her-mums-frustration-with-dementia-4282097/feed/0AD_125845582.jpgstaceymcintoshSally Magnusson highlights her mum's battle with dementia in her new book (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)On my ereader: Costa winner Nathan Filer enjoys To The Pines and A Is For Angelicahttp://metro.co.uk/2014/01/30/on-my-ereader-costa-winner-nathan-filer-enjoys-to-the-pines-and-a-is-for-angelica-4282309/
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Costa winner Nathan Filer picks his top reads (Picture: supplied)

Costa winner Nathan Filer reveals his top reads.

To The Pines by Tom Abbott
I’m a new convert to the e-reader but one advantage is the near limitless access to self-published works. It’s a risk, of course, but To The Pines is a brave and powerful work by an assured writer. Set in Prohibition-era East Tennessee, this menacing tale has echoes of Faulkner.

A Is For Angelica by Iain Broome
This is a brilliant, dark comedy, with beautiful moments of pathos. It concerns the daily life of Gordon Kingdom, a rather fussy and repressed little man who we cannot help but like. Gordon has a problem at home… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/30/on-my-ereader-costa-winner-nathan-filer-enjoys-to-the-pines-and-a-is-for-angelica-4282309/feed/0AD_125839316.jpgstaceymcintoshCosta winner Nathan Filer picks his top reads (Picture: supplied)The Girl With All The Gifts is a refreshing take on zombieshttp://metro.co.uk/2014/01/23/books-about-the-undead-world-war-z-handling-the-undead-pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-4273295/
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You’ve seen the film, now read the book that inspired World War Z (Graphic: iandodds.co.uk)

The Girl With All The Gifts by MR Carey (Orbit)

Zombies are flesh-eating flavour of the month. If vampires have been co-opted as the perfect, pallid romantic emo boyfriend, the flesh-eating undead are the unlovely lumpen rest of us, hanging out in shopping malls, staring into space until the prospect of convenience food piques their interest.

You’d be forgiven for thinking there wasn’t much that could be added in the way of a new twist to George A Romero’s definitive recipe after their starring role in Pride And Prejudice And Zombies. In MR Carey’s terrific speculative-fiction thriller… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/23/books-about-the-undead-world-war-z-handling-the-undead-pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-4273295/feed/0You’ve seen the film, now read the book that inspired World War Z (Graphic: iandodds.co.uk)joannesmith2013You’ve seen the film, now read the book that inspired World War Z (Graphic: iandodds.co.uk)A thrilling and colourful story (Picture: Supplied)Author Natalie Young: Season To Taste is an eye-opener because a woman eats a manhttp://metro.co.uk/2014/01/22/author-natalie-young-season-to-taste-is-an-eye-opener-because-a-woman-eats-a-man-4271390/
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Natalie Young’s new book Season To Taste was inspired by a past relationship (Picture: Ray Wells)

Season To Taste by Natalie Young is the darkly comic tale of how a bored housewife killed her husband and then ate his remains.

I did some research with a friend who is a brain surgeon. We sat in a café talking about how to do it, what it’s like and where to cut. I watched a couple of operations as well. It gave me a really good idea of what it’s like to be up close to a human body. I’m not as squeamish as I’d thought. I’m just about the kind of person… Read the full story]]>

The blood-splattered first novel from Anna Whit-wham is packed with men who fight each other inside and out of the boxing ring. When I meet the 32-year-old author in the book-lined calm of Waterstones Piccadilly, far from the noxious litter-strewn streets of the East End she evokes, I can’t resist asking: ‘What’s a nice girl like you doing writing a book like this?’

She laughs. ‘I wanted to write a love story. I began writing it and the male character, Bobby, just grew and grew. I was always intrigued by my grandfather’s story. When he was growing up in the East End in the 1920s, there were codes of behaviour that are now obsolete. I became interested… Read the full story]]>

Children’s author/illustrator Chris Riddell stands out in both categories: a two-time medallist of the Kate Greenaway award for his drawings, he’s also the recipient of multiple Nestlé awards for writing.

His clean lines, outrageous hairstyle creations and many-eyed monsters – testament to a stint as the Observer political cartoonist – impart panache to any story. As a writer, his blend of the absurd and the poignant, the highbrow with light-touch literary references, appeal strongly to children and parents
.
His latest solo effort, Goth Girl And The Ghost Of A Mouse, has just won the children’s Costa Award, which puts Riddell up against Kate Atkinson, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Nathan Filer and Michael Symmons Roberts to win the overall… Read the full story]]>

We often read about heroines to find out how to be heroines ourselves. I was inspired to re-read the literary heroines I loved as a child after an argument with a friend about whether we’d rather be Cathy Earnshaw [from Wuthering Heights] or Jane Eyre. Re-reading them was like dipping into a well of memories.

I’ve learnt a lot from my heroines. To be a heroine you have to defy fate, not be trapped by expectations, find your own way.

The heroines I liked most were also great altruists, in a feminist way. Scarlett O’Hara seems ruthless but she’s very generous. Anne of Green Gables is a wonderful altruist. Feminism is not just about equal pay, it’s also… Read the full story]]>

Susan Hill is best known for her ghost story The Woman in Black (Picture: Ben Graville)

Susan Hill, writer of Black Sheep and The Woman In Black, shares her three top reads.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens
I have probably been influenced by this more than any other book. It has everything – excitement, danger, sense of place and especially of London, corners of which were still little changed when I went up to King’s College in 1960. I never tire of this magnificent novel.

The Bible (the Authorised Version)
I am a Christian but you need not be a believer to appreciate its richness. Love of Bible language, stories, cadences, was… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/16/on-my-e-reader-pg-wodehouse-was-an-english-prose-master-says-susan-hill-4263867/feed/0AY_96151541.jpgstaceymcintoshSusan Hill is best known for her ghost story The Woman in Black (Picture: Ben Graville)Michael Paterniti’s The Telling Room shows a hunger for stories in its tale of a Castilian cheesehttp://metro.co.uk/2014/01/16/michael-paternitis-the-telling-room-shows-a-hunger-for-stories-in-its-tale-of-a-castilian-cheese-4263866/
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Michael Paterniti book is about preserving our cultural heritage and the flavours of the past (Picture: Iandodds.co.uk)

In the vast highlands of Spain, on cold winter nights or long summer days, villagers would gather to share their stories in ‘telling rooms’.

Storytelling was a way of life in these ‘contadors’ (‘contar’ being Spanish for ‘to tell’, as well as count). Little wonder, then, that author Michael Paterniti is drawn like a magnet to the tale of these intriguing rooms. After all, as a professional writer himself, he ‘hunted and gathered’ stories.

‘Imagination magnifies small objects / with fantastic exaggeration / until they fill our soul’, wrote Blaise Pascal in Human Happiness,… Read the full story]]>

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Stuart MacBride doesn’t seem to like his heroes very much. He had to take a break from the Logan McRae series because he was worried that he’d been too cruel to his fictional Scottish policeman.

So, instead, he wrote Birthdays For The Dead, with another detective, Ash Henderson, to act as his voodoo doll. Henderson suffered even more than McRae, his daughter being tortured and murdered by The Birthday Boy serial killer.

MacBride so thoroughly dismantled Henderson’s life at the end of the previous novel that he’s forced to spring him from prison at the start of A Song For… Read the full story]]>

The glamour of 1920s life masked mass heartbreak after hundreds of thousands of young men died in the Great War (Picture: Alamy)

Best-selling novelist Adele Parks never used to dwell on the impact World War I had on the lives of women. ‘I think it’s the way I was taught it that made it seem so distant,’ she says, ‘It was all about these poor men, up to their necks in mud. But for those who were left behind and those who survived, the war changed everything too.’

It was a visit to the war cemeteries of northern France that partly inspired Anna Hope’s… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/15/adele-parks-and-anna-hope-world-war-i-changed-womens-lives-forever-4262939/feed/0The glamour of 1920s life obscured mass heartbreak after hundreds of thousands of young men were killed in the Great War (Picture: Alamy)emmahutchingsThe glamour of 1920s life hid mass heartbreak after hundreds of thousands of young men were killed in the Great War (Picture: Alamy)Adele Parks has written her first historic novel, which begins in the late 1920s (Picture: Ray Tang/Rex)It was a visit to the war cemeteries of northern France that partly inspired Anna Hope’s debut novel, Wake (Picture: Jonathan Greet)David Gilbert’s & Sons is a teasing tale of family strifehttp://metro.co.uk/2014/01/09/david-gilberts-sons-is-a-teasing-tale-of-family-strife-4254552/
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In David Gilbert’s novel, a reclusive author attempts a reconciliation with his children (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)

The restlessly playful David Gilbert teases us right from the very title. That ‘&’ denotes what lies between a father and his sons, and what joins them together; it also echoes a fictitious novel that looms large in Gilbert’s story.

The father is Andrew Dyer, known to the world as AN Dyer, an elderly, reclusive New York writer whose career was launched at the age of 27 by what has become an American classic of troubled if privileged adolescence, ‘Ampersand’.(Think JD Salinger and The Catcher In The Rye.)

http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/09/david-gilberts-sons-is-a-teasing-tale-of-family-strife-4254552/feed/0In David Gilbert’s novel, a reclusive author attempts a reconciliation with his children (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)joannesmith2013In David Gilbert’s novel, a reclusive author attempts a reconciliation with his children (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)Per Petterson’s Ashes In My Mouth, Sand In My Shoes has a wryly funny sense of melancholyhttp://metro.co.uk/2014/01/09/per-pettersons-ashes-in-my-mouth-sand-in-my-shoes-has-a-wryly-funny-sense-of-melancholy-4254815/
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Noridc fiction (Picture: Supplied)

Nordic fiction read by Brits has been crime-dominated for years. Since Henning Mankell’s Detective Wallander reached us in the late 1990s, we’ve been addicted to dark thrillers by the likes of Stieg Larsson, Jo Nesbo and Yrsa Sigurðardóttir. But here are three Scandinavian novels concerned only remotely with crime, focusing more on memory, childhood and identity. Original and often hilarious, they’re a pleasing contrast to frozen bodies.

Norwegian writer Per Petterson is already well-known: Out Stealing Horses was a New York Times Top Ten pick in 2007 and he’s won numerous awards at home and abroad. Now, for the first time, his 1987 debut, Ashes In My Mouth, Sand In My Shoes, has been translated into English. Ten-year-old Arvid Jansen… Read the full story]]>

The Reversal by Michael Connelly
Like all Michael Connelly’s novels, this is smooth, surprising and devious. Defence attorney Mickey Haller — the Lincoln Lawyer — switches sides to prosecute a notorious killer. But who’s being set up for a fall? Suspense from a master of crime fiction.

Salinger by David Shields and Shane Salerno
Who knew World War II combat would so scar the young man but make the author? This oral history offers insights into how JD Salinger came to be the writer who gave us The Catcher In The Rye.

A Storm Of Swords by George RR Martin
I was boarding a flight when my son phoned and said: ‘Catch up with Game Of Thrones, or when you… Read the full story]]>

Sue Monk Kidd imagined the life of a US slave girl in her new book (Picture: Roland Scarpa)

The Secret Life Of Bees novelist Sue Monk Kidd has returned to racial tensions in the US South for her latest work.

I knew that my new book would be about the quest for freedom in all its forms – body, mind and soul. The novel [set in the American Deep South] was inspired by the amazing 19th-century abolitionist and women’s rights pioneer Sarah Grimké. I also came upon a beautiful African-American folk tale about a time when people in Africa could fly.

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Metro’s pick of the 20 best non-fiction books of 2013 (Picture: supplied)

It’s been a bumper year for non-fiction. Metro picks the best 20, from history to autobiography and beyond.

Love, Nina: Despatches From Family Life by Nina Stibbe (Viking)A hoot. In 1982, the straight-talking Stibbe arrived as a nanny to a literary family in north London. Her funny and well-observed letters home offer a slice of 1980s life.

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb (W&N)The story of the girl shot by the Taliban for speaking up for women’s education is one of idealism and stubborn courage, and a reminder that women’s rights and many children’s rights to education are continually… Read the full story]]>

The author of How To Fall In Love shares three of her favourite books.

The Tiny Wife by Andrew KaufmanI have a weird connection to this book, which makes me buy it almost every time I see it in a shop. A thief walks into a bank but instead of asking for money, he asks for the object of greatest significance in the possession of each person. Clever. Brilliant. Funny. Moving.

The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake by Aimee BenderThe writing is beautiful and the idea is a gem. The main character realises that through tasting… Read the full story]]>

Forget the rest – the only celebrity memoir you need is Let Me Off At The Top! by Ron Burgundy (Century). Actually by Will Ferrell, it’s published as his heroically coiffured newscaster Burgundy returns in Anchorman 2. As Burgundy insists: ‘This is a terrific book,’ (especially if you need 12 rules to survive a prison riot).

The Wit & Wisdom Of Tyrion Lannister (Harper Voyager) compiles aphorisms from the sharp-witted outcast in Game Of Thrones: ‘Crowns do queer things to the heads beneath them’; ‘I long ago learned it is considered rude to vomit on your brother’. An adequate amuse-bouche for those in thrall to George RR Martin’s saga.

Ben Schott presents a miniature delight in Schottenfreude: German Words For The Human… Read the full story]]>

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best booksStoner by John Williams (Vintage)
The year’s most delightedly unexpected hit, this reissued 1965 American novel has had everyone from Ian McEwan to Tom Hanks hailing its account of one man’s life as a forgotten masterpiece. Now Waterstone’s Book of the Year.

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (Granta)
With this 832-page murder mystery, set in the gold mines of 19th-century New Zealand, its 28-year-old author became the youngest ever winner of the Man Booker prize.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (Little, Brown)
At 784 pages, this is big in girth, as well as scope and ambition: an absorbing epic.

Harvest by Jim Crace (Picador)
A mesmerising and convincingly frightening portrayal of the violent end to a rural community in a forgotten England.

Jeff Kinney originally wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist (Picture: supplied)

Jeff Kinney, 42, is the author and illustrator of the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid series. The latest, Hard Luck, is this year’s bestselling children’s book.

I’ve been surprised by the books’ success overseas, even in countries such as Iran. They are unusual in their format and distinctly American but I’ve come to realise that childhood is a universal condition.

My dream was to be a newspaper cartoonist but my drawings just weren’t professional enough. Then I realised if I started drawing as a kid, I might be able to fool everyone.

I conceived this as a book for adults. When my publishers said they’d like to… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/12/11/childrens-author-jeff-kinney-ive-come-to-realise-childhood-is-a-universal-condition-4225130/feed/0Jeff Kinney originally wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist (Picture: supplied)tomfulfordjonesJeff Kinney originally wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist (Picture: supplied)Top 20 best books of the year for children, including Mr Tiger Goes Wild and Fortunately, The Milkhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/12/11/top-20-best-books-of-the-year-for-children-including-mr-tiger-goes-wild-and-fortunately-the-milk-4225259/
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A great selection of books to read to your little ones (Picture: supplied)

From The Further Adventures Of The Owl And The Pussycat to a quirky book of maps, we pick this year’s best reads for children.

0-4-year-oldsThe Further Adventures Of The Owl And The Pussycat by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Charlotte Voake (Puffin): The Owl and the Pussycat’s onward voyages, to the Chankly Bore and beyond: beautifully in keeping with Lear.

Herman’s Letter by Tom Percival (Bloomsbury): When Herman Bear’s best friend Henry moves away, he’s determined to deliver him a letter, whatever it takes.… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/12/11/top-20-best-books-of-the-year-for-children-including-mr-tiger-goes-wild-and-fortunately-the-milk-4225259/feed/0emmahutchingsemmahutchingsemmahutchingsemmahutchingsStuck for a children's gift? Try this selection of books we rate (Pictures: supplied)emmahutchingsA great selection of books to read to your little ones (Picture: supplied)Kids and adults will love the stories and illustrations (Picture: supplied)Your tweenagers have a great selection to get lost in (Picture: supplied)A range of books that will keep them interested (Picture: supplied)Celebrity memoirs: Jennifer Saunders’s Bonkers, David Jason’s My Life and David Suchet’s Poirot And Mehttp://metro.co.uk/2013/12/05/celebrity-memoirs-jennifer-saunderss-bonkers-david-jasons-my-life-and-david-suchets-poirot-and-me-4213717/
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Jennifer Saunders’s Bonkers: My Life In Laughs, David Jason’s My Life and David Suchet’s Poirot And Me (Picture: supplied)

Three celebrity memoirs worth buying for Christmas.

An annual stocking-filling tradition, the celebrity memoir is often seen as little more than a lazy, self-serving cash-in: just another piece of merchandise to prop up the brand.

But it’s always worth sifting through the vapid non-efforts from Towie stars and hack comedians to find the likes of Jennifer Saunders’s Bonkers: My Life In Laughs (Penguin Viking).

Granted, this chatty account of the great comedienne’s largely charmed and happy life is hardly a classic of the genre.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/12/05/celebrity-memoirs-jennifer-saunderss-bonkers-david-jasons-my-life-and-david-suchets-poirot-and-me-4213717/feed/0Jennifer Saunders's Bonkers: My Life In Laughs, David Jason's My Life and David Suchet's Poirot And Me (Picture: supplied)tomfulfordjonesJennifer Saunders's Bonkers: My Life In Laughs, David Jason's My Life and David Suchet's Poirot And Me (Picture: supplied)On my ereader: Andy McNab reveals Catch-22 is one of his favourite bookshttp://metro.co.uk/2013/12/05/on-my-ereader-andy-mcnab-reveals-catch-22-is-one-of-his-favourite-books-4215527/
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Andy McNab reveals what’s on his ereader (Picture: supplied)

Andy McNab reveals some of his favourite books, including Catch-22 and Touching The Void.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
One of my favourite books of all time. It perfectly captures the bizarre aspects of war, the ridiculous bureaucracy and warped logic that only makes sense when you’re there:the health and safety inspection necessary before moving a machine gun during a mission, for example. Clearly, dropping it on your toe isn’t your main worry.

Touching The Void by Joe Simpson
This book was recommended to me by a film producer when I started writing. It taught me a huge amount about a sense of time and place. When you read this book… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/12/05/on-my-ereader-andy-mcnab-reveals-catch-22-is-one-of-his-favourite-books-4215527/feed/0EL_4191204.jpgstaceymcintoshAndy McNab reveals what's on his ereader (Picture: supplied)Sally Gardner’s Tinder may be a slow-burning winter story but it ignites a classic fairy talehttp://metro.co.uk/2013/12/05/sally-gardners-tinder-may-be-a-slow-burning-winter-story-but-it-ignites-a-classic-fairy-tale-4215817/
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Tinder is a winter tale written by Sally Gardner (Picture: David Roberts)

Award-winning author Sally Gardner is best known for her historical fiction aimed at children and young adults: meticulously researched, vividly peopled and often spiked with intoxicating magic.

This year’s Carnegie-winner, Maggot Moon – the tragic story of a dyslexic teenager, set in an alternate dystopian England – was a departure from her previous norm. Now her latest book rings the changes yet again.

Tinder, an illustrated story for teenagers, is a shadowy, sharp-fanged take on the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Tinderbox, examining the horrors of war and its aftermath.

In a cruel fairy-tale forest, wounded Otto Hundebiss, unwilling young veteran of the… Read the full story]]>

Fatima Bhutto is a Pakistani poet and writer. She is granddaughter of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the niece of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and daughter of Murtaza Bhutto. Picture: Graeme Robertso /eyevine)

‘Pakistan has become a country that demands sacrifice,’ says Fatima Bhutto softly. ‘Either you sacrifice yourself or, if you don’t – if you want to survive – you will be forced to sacrifice someone else.’

It is a bold, bleak statement for a 31-year-old to make but it reflects the uncompromising world of her powerful first novel,… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/12/04/fatima-bhutto-pakistani-women-have-zero-voice-yet-dont-stay-in-the-backgroun-4212146/feed/0Fatima Bhutto is a Pakistani poet and writer. She is granddaughter of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the niece of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and daughter of Murtaza Bhutto. Picture: Graeme Robertso /eyevine)joannesmith2013Fatima Bhutto is a Pakistani poet and writer. She is granddaughter of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the niece of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and daughter of Murtaza Bhutto. Picture: Graeme Robertso /eyevine)Ghinwa Bhutto (R), widow of Murtaza Bhutto, speaks during a press conference as her daughter, Fatima (left) looks on (Picture: Getty Images)Fatima Bhutto speaks to local women during a visit to a market place in an impoverished neighbourhood in Karachi, Pakistan. (Picture: Getty)Author Michael Rosen: The alphabet is just as brilliant an invention as the wheelhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/12/04/4211915-4211915/
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Children’s author Michael Rosen (Picture: Laurence Cendrowicz)

If you turn an A upside down, you’ll see what was the Phoenician symbol for an ox’s head.

The triangle is the head and that has two horns sticking out. The idea that we’re saying A when we see a sign that goes back thousands of years – that’s amazing.

The whole history of language is change. Four hundred years ago, we’d have been talking like Shakespeare. Before that, Chaucer and, before that, Beowulf. People weren’t taught not to talk like Beowulf, it just evolved like that.

Thinking about the alphabet is like walking along the pavement and finding a Roman villa hidden beneath your feet. We take letters for granted but when you… Read the full story]]>

Chakra: The Invincible, created by Stan Lee, has just made his TV debut (Picture: Graphic India)

With great power, comes great responsibility.

And when it comes to comic book heroes, that power could be shifting from the west to the east.

Figures such as Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, the Avengers and the X-Men are US-based superheroic giants who tower over the comic book planet.

But the man behind many of those good guys has turned his attention away from America in search of a new kind of superhero. Stan Lee, who gave us Spidey, the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and many others, has created a new character that fights injustice in India.

Lee has gone back to the formula that made Spider-Man such a hit – exploring what it is like… Read the full story]]>

Hooman Majd’s The Ministry Of Guidance Invites You To Not Stay, Rob Lilwall’s Walking Home From Mongolia and Matthews Baylis’s Man Belong Mrs Queen (Picture: supplied)

If the shortening days and falling temperatures are making you wish you were somewhere more exotic, then worry not.

Here’s a trio of fascinating travel books that offer all manner of vicarious thrills while keeping you fairly grateful to be stuck on Britain’s chilly terra firma.

Taking them in ascending order of wackiness, Hooman Majd’s The Ministry Of Guidance Invites You To Not Stay (Allen Lane) is a wry but journalistic account of the year the… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/28/travel-books-hooman-majd-in-iran-rob-lilwall-in-china-and-matthew-bayliss-on-the-tribe-that-worships-prince-philip-4204103/feed/0Hooman Majd’s The Ministry Of Guidance Invites You To Not Stay, Rob Lilwall’s Walking Home From Mongolia and Matthews Baylis’s Man Belong Mrs Queen (Picture: supplied)pauldietrich2013Hooman Majd’s The Ministry Of Guidance Invites You To Not Stay, Rob Lilwall’s Walking Home From Mongolia and Matthews Baylis’s Man Belong Mrs Queen (Picture: supplied) On my ereader: Nabokov’s Lolita is the work of a master stylist, says Lisa Appignanesihttp://metro.co.uk/2013/11/28/on-my-ereader-nabokovs-lolita-is-the-work-of-a-master-stylist-says-lisa-appignanesi-4204894/
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Author Lisa Appignanesi’s new book is Losing The Dead (Picture: Tina Norris/Rex)

Lisa Appignanesi, the writer of Losing The Dead shares her top three reads.

Dear Life by Alice Munro
Now a Nobel laureate, Munro is fiction’s great philosopher of everyday life. I’ve gobbled up her stories ever since Lives Of Girls And Women appeared and dazzled. Dear Life has the added bonus of a ‘close to autobiographical’ foursome. Just grand.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
I go back to this brilliant novel as often as I can. Nabokov is a superb stylist – witty, passionate, incisive and sly. In his evocation of the protagonist Humbert Humbert’s deadly, obsessive love for Lolita and his battle with the psychiatrists, he’s at his very best.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/28/on-my-ereader-nabokovs-lolita-is-the-work-of-a-master-stylist-says-lisa-appignanesi-4204894/feed/0AD_121443839.jpgstaceymcintoshAuthor Lisa Appignanesi's new book is Losing The Dead (Picture: Tina Norris/Rex)Anjelica Huston’s autobiography: How growing up with John Huston as your father isn’t easyhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/11/28/anjelica-hustons-autobiography-how-growing-up-with-john-huston-as-your-father-isnt-easy-4204871/
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You may get engrossed in Huston’s story, but you do not yearn to be part of it (Illustration: Ian Dodds)

That this is a classier take on the celebrity autobiography is signalled by the heavyweight endorsements on the dust jacket. You won’t find thrice Booker-nominated Colm Tóibín, literary memoirist Joan Didion or veteran film-maker Mike Nichols enthusing on the back of Katie Price’s latest batch of revelations.

It is the glamorous circles that Anjelica Huston has always moved in that make this first tranche of memoirs, subtitled Coming Of Age In Ireland, London And New York, such a deliciously prurient read. From the off, hers has been… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/28/anjelica-hustons-autobiography-how-growing-up-with-john-huston-as-your-father-isnt-easy-4204871/feed/0You may get engrossed in Huston’s story, but you do not yearn to be part of it (Illustration: Ian Dodds)emmahutchingsYou may get engrossed in Huston’s story, but you do not yearn to be part of it (Illustration: Ian Dodds)Author Anders de la Motte: Facebook is fuelled by narcissism and desperationhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/11/27/author-anders-de-la-motte-facebook-is-fuelled-by-narcissism-and-desperation-4202887/
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Anders de la Motte’s Game trilogy thrillers are set in a social media-obsessed world (Picture: Helen Karlsson)

Thriller writer and security expert Anders de la Motte says by sharing so much online we are giving away what the Stasi would have killed for.

Anders de la Motte is not a great fan of social media. ‘The East German secret police, the Stasi, used to have a motto: “To be really safe, you need to know everything.”

‘Their whole business idea was to have half the population listening in on the other half and reporting on whatever they were doing – records they were listening to, friends they were meeting, papers they… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/27/author-anders-de-la-motte-facebook-is-fuelled-by-narcissism-and-desperation-4202887/feed/0Anders de la Motte's Game trilogy thrillers are set in a social media-obsessed world (Picture: Helen Karlsson)pauldietrich2013Anders de la Motte's Game trilogy thrillers are set in a social media-obsessed world (Picture: Helen Karlsson)Anders de la Motte: 'What reward do we get from a "like" on Facebook?' (Picture: Alamy)William Hill Sports Book of the Year: 25 years of great sporting literaturehttp://metro.co.uk/2013/11/26/william-hill-sports-book-of-the-year-25-years-of-great-sporting-literature-4200989/
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Zlatan Ibrahimović’s autobiography is shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year (Picture: Penguin)

‘The best sports books get a long way away from the matches,’ says Simon Kuper.

He should know – when researching Football Against the Enemy, his series of essays on how politics weaves its way into the Beautiful Game, Kuper travelled to more than 20 countries. The trips were well worth it: the resulting book changed his life. In 1994, Football Against the Enemy won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award. For Kuper, it meant the start of a career in sports writing and, crucially – in the short-term – some cash.

Author Jaspreet Singh wrote his first novel in 2000 (Picture: supplied)

Jaspreet Singh’s novel Helium confronts memories of the 1984 pogrom against the Sikhs.

In November 1984, after Indira Gandhi’s assassination, politicians of India’s Congress party directed mobs to burn alive as many Sikhs as possible. Members of parliament and cabinet ministers distributed kerosene oil and white phosphorous. Witnesses talked about the use of rubber tyres to trap the target, create thick clouds of toxins and facilitate combustion.

I was a teenager in Delhi. A mob passed our block, attacking Sikhs on the street. We hid in a neighbour’s house. The few hours we were there fill a huge space in my mind. I’ve not been able… Read the full story]]>

We asked top writers for their Christmas book recommendations (Picture: supplied)

Because if you want to get the best advice, who better to ask than the experts?

Jonathan Coe has chosen The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis

At a time when novels seem to be getting longer and longer, three cheers for Lydia Davis, who writes the shortest of short fictions and shows what can be done with the bare minimum of words. Whether you feel like immersing yourself in her world or just dipping in and out of it, her Collected Stories is perfect. Some are only a few sentences long but all are witty, insightful and complete in themselves. Expo 58 by Jonathan Coe (Penguin)

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/25/christmas-book-ideas-top-writers-share-their-recommendations-4198076/feed/0metrowebukmetroWe asked top writers for their Christmas book recommendations (Picture: supplied)metrowebukmetroWe asked top writers for their Christmas book recommendations (Picture: supplied)Snake Dance: Journeys Beneath A Nuclear Sky rages against the horror of atomic policyhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/11/21/snake-dance-journeys-beneath-a-nuclear-sky-rages-against-the-horror-of-atomic-policy-4194654/
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(Picture: Iandodds.co.uk)

Journalist Patrick Marnham takes us on a twisting, global journey in his devastating critique of nuclear policy.

The two atomic bombs the US dropped on Japan three days apart in August 1945 killed tens of thousands instantly and 210,000 by the end of that year. How and why this was done is the grimly compelling subject of a new book from experienced journalist and biographer Patrick Marnham, who traces the development of those most notorious weapons of mass destruction in a cross-continental odyssey that takes him from central Africa to Fukushima after the nuclear disaster of 2011.

Marnham’s timing is faultless: only this week, a Japanese power boss warned the British government, which has just announced a major investment in next-generation nuclear power, that the… Read the full story]]>

Memoirs of the Manc miserablist and ‘Mr Joni Mitchell’, plus a lost band recalled by Paul du Noyer.

Few music books have been anticipated with as much fervour or torn apart in as much haste as the Penguin Classic that recently led some bookshops to open at midnight – Morrissey’s Autobiography. Considered away from the initial hype, the Manchester indie icon’s memoirs are characteristically pert, petulant and romantic – though he reserves his keenest passions for his pop awakenings (Ziggy-era Bowie; New York Dolls) and his coldest ire for those who have crossed him, from grim teachers to journos and Rough Trade’s Geoff Travis.

Morrissey’s subjective standpoints make for an engrossing, funny, though frustratingly elliptical read, scattered with personal photographs and song lyrics. Yet there are scant insights into his songcraft, controversy or the rise and fall of The Smiths, whose co-songwriter Johnny Marr is portrayed as a naive genius. Bitter focus is, however, given to… Read the full story]]>

English Passengers author Matthew Kneale, 52, bares his soul to explain why an atheist novelist would write a non-fiction history of religion.

Belief is a feeling as much as anything. The details don’t matter as much as one thinks. I never use the word faith – I just happen not to believe in any of it.

My father’s mother would go to church but I think she just liked the singing. My father [Nigel Kneale, who wrote Quatermass] was never a believer. I was brought up an atheist. My mother [children’s author, Judith Kerr, 90] was German-Jewish but my father, who was from the Isle of Man, knew more about Judaism… Read the full story]]>

Patricia Cornwell’s new book, Dust, features a Newtown-type massacre as its backdrop (Picture: Alex Moss)

Crime writer Patricia Cornwell has sold more than 100milion books and is the brains behind medical examiner Kay Scarpetta.

What is Dust, featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, about? It opens when Scarpetta’s just come back from a terrible case – the equivalent of the Newtown massacre, a mass murder by firearms.

I’ve been to every kind of crime scene but I’ve never been to something like that, nor would I want to. I can’t imagine how human beings deal with such tragedy. The book starts with her returning from that, then she gets involved in another case.… Read the full story]]>

The British writer, whose best-known books include The Golden Notebook, The Grass Is Singing and Memoirs of a Survivor, died peacefully at her home in London early this morning, according to a spokesman.

Her agent Jonathan Clowes said: ‘She was a wonderful writer with a fascinating and original mind; it was a privilege to work for her and we shall miss her immensely.’

Whether you are into photography or not, you really can’t help but marvel at the beauty of food captured by the photographers of the award winning Modernist Cuisine series of books.

Today is Food Photography Day. There seems to be a ‘Day’ for everything now and you’d think being a food photographer I might get excited about Food Photography Day, but anyone with a smartphone and access to social media will feel that, thanks to Instagram, everyday feels like Food Photography Day, or perhaps Bad Food Photography Day.

The recently released Photography of Modernist Cuisine is the antidote to bad… Read the full story]]>

This follows a woman who presents herself as a mum-of-two, doing a nine-to-five job with a husband who doesn’t earn enough to make their lives comfortable. But there is a new job for him in Switzerland and it is only then that one begins to realise she was working as a CIA operative who moved to a desk job after one of her assignments went horribly wrong. The story as it twists and turns keeps you glued to the end.

The Submission by Amy Waldman (Windmill)

This novel tells of a committee set up to run a competition for the design of a new construction on the grounds of the destroyed World Trade… Read the full story]]>

There is much to enjoy in these new versions of 20th-century classics (Pictures: Supplied)

Amid the flood of titles out to commemorate the centenary of World War I, some new reissues look at the conflict from points of view we’re likely to hear less about in Britain over the next four years.

The Nazis burned Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel All Quiet On The Western Front (Vintage Classics) in outrage at his plain-speaking account of a teenage infantryman whose unit falls one by one fighting the Allies in 1917. Remarque, a Passchendaele veteran, describes how bowel-emptying fear soon gives way to battle-dazed despair in a generation that didn’t have lives to return… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/14/rediscover-a-classic-all-quiet-on-the-western-front-and-a-schoolboys-diary-4185618/feed/0joannesmith2013There is much to enjoy in these new versions of 20th-century classics (Pictures: Supplied)joannesmith2013There is much to enjoy in these new versions of 20th-century classics (Pictures: Supplied)Jamie Oliver: I’m like Marmite at the end of the dayhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/11/13/jamie-oliver-im-like-marmite-at-the-end-of-the-day-4183622/
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Jamie Oliver’s new book is full of money-saving recipes (Picture: Getty)

Jamie Oliver, 38, came to fame 14 years ago on his cooking show The Naked Chef. He recently caused controversy while promoting a new book.

You recently received an honorary fellowship from the Royal College of General Practitioners – what are the perks of having it? Hopefully, it might mean I get my flu fixed a bit quicker – not really, it’s just a pat on the back and access to clever people.

Why did you get it? They vote on it for people who make efforts to improve public health. So I think it’s primarily for the Ministry Of Food and school lunches campaigns I’ve… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/13/jamie-oliver-im-like-marmite-at-the-end-of-the-day-4183622/feed/0Jamie Oliver's new book is full of money-saving recipes (Picture: Getty)carolynfaulderJamie Oliver's new book is full of money-saving recipes (Picture: Getty)Joe Sacco’s new graphic book, The Great War, gives voice to the WWI fallenhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/11/11/joe-saccos-new-graphic-book-the-great-war-gives-voice-to-the-wwi-fallen-4179166/
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Joe Sacco’s book, The Great War, folds out over 24ft to depict the terrors of World War I (Picture: supplied)

Among the scores of scholarly histories that are being published as we approach the centenary of the start of World War I, few will match the power of a book that’s almost entirely free of words.

The Great War by Joe Sacco is a stupendous feat of artistry and unlike anything you’ve seen before.

The depiction of the first day of the Somme, July 1, 1916, is presented in a panorama that unfolds over 24ft (7m), encompassing everything from General Haig, safe at the rear, to the burial… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/11/joe-saccos-new-graphic-book-the-great-war-gives-voice-to-the-wwi-fallen-4179166/feed/0AD_119912714.jpgannapunshonJoe Sacco’s book, The Great War, folds out over 24ft to depict the terrors of World War I (Picture: supplied)Joe Sacco (Picture: supplied)Kate Mosse: I learnt horror writing from the best – Edith Whartonhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/11/07/kate-mosse-i-learnt-horror-writing-from-the-best-edith-wharton-4176191/
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Author Kate Mosse (Picture: Alamy)

The writer of The Mistletoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales shares her three reads of the day.

The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton (Wordsworth Editions, 2009)
Although celebrated for her vivid, elegant novels such as The Age Of Innocence, the US writer was also a clever and atmospheric creator of brilliant ghost stories. I’ve just written my first collection and there’s no better teacher: nothing is overstated or ghoulish but you’re left with a distinct sense of unease.

Olivier by Philip Ziegler (MacLehose Press)
With the announcement that Rufus Norris will succeed Nicholas Hytner as the director of the National Theatre, the timing of Ziegler’s biography of the founding artistic director Laurence Olivier couldn’t be better. The book… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/07/movember-youre-growing-the-tache-now-you-can-cook-like-a-man-4176577/feed/0David Johnson is head chef at The Albion in Islington, north London and has submitted recipes to Cook Like A Man (Picture: Steve Ryan)carolynfaulderDavid Johnson is head chef at The Albion in Islington, north London and has submitted recipes to Cook Like A Man (Picture: Steve Ryan)Love, Nina: Despatches From Family Life by Nina Stibbe is a hoothttp://metro.co.uk/2013/11/07/love-nina-dispatches-from-family-life-by-nina-stibbe-is-a-hoot-4176146/
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Nina Stibbe’s job gave her an insight into the lives and mores of London’s literary set (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)

Book review: Love, Nina: Despatches From Family Life by Nina Stibbe (Penguin Viking)

Buyers beware: over the coming weeks many books will try to inveigle their way into your shopping baskets. Some will dazzle with handsome looks, others with empty promises of quick thrills or easy laughter. By Boxing Day, many of us will find ourselves aghast at a small folly of hardbacks, wondering how this lot got into the house.

The solution is to give this collection of letters by Nina Stibbe as a classy stocking-filler to your book-loving loved ones. Funny, warm, life-affirming and… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/07/love-nina-dispatches-from-family-life-by-nina-stibbe-is-a-hoot-4176146/feed/0Nina Stibbe’s job gave her an insight into the lives and mores of London’s literary set (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)carolynfaulderNina Stibbe’s job gave her an insight into the lives and mores of London’s literary set (Picture: iandodds.co.uk)Joanna Trollope’s Sense & Sensibility is Jane Austen for Generation Yhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/11/07/joanna-trollopes-sense-sensibitlity-is-jane-austen-for-generation-y-4175963/
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Jane Austen has been updated yet again – and she’s not the only one…

‘Bad artists borrow, great artists steal,’ said Picasso. Shakespeare never wrote an original plot so why shouldn’t novelists rehash existing plots and characters? The film Clueless gave a sharp-witted contemporary take on Jane Austen’s Emma and now the Austen Project serves up like-minded updatings. Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope, the first of six books by contemporary authors, is a labour of love. The modern touches are judiciously effective: the Dashwood girls’ inheritance is imperilled by the fact their parents never married; Marianne’s romantic self-indulgence finds an outlet in Taylor Swift songs on the guitar; and 21st-century social media play a vital role. However, it’s in the dialogue that Trollope achieves escape velocity, exhibiting such gleeful relish for the nuances of social combat that you can savour the novel in its own right, rather than in comparison with its… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/07/joanna-trollopes-sense-sensibitlity-is-jane-austen-for-generation-y-4175963/feed/0booksannapunshonbooksIan Rankin: I don’t know if I could kill Rebus. That would be very cruelhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/11/05/ian-rankin-i-dont-know-if-i-could-kill-rebus-that-would-be-very-cruel-4173401/
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Author Ian Rankin (Picture: Daniel Lynch)<br />

His best-known creation is the gruff, tough detective who bosses the Edinburgh police station interview room: there’s a sense of trepidation before going one to one with Inspector Rebus author Ian Rankin.

But in person, he’s reassuringly affable, the air of the overgrown student betraying his one-time ambition to become a literary professor. Rankin says he would be a ‘pretty poor’ murderer – ‘the old Calvinist guilt coming out’ – and a ‘terrible’ policeman. ‘As a cop, you need to work in a team,’ he says. ‘I’d always be trying to do something different for the hell of it. Not listening, not doing the right thing…’ And he adds: ‘A bit like Rebus.’

November is a ludicrously fecund time for lovers of thrillers and crime novels. The big-name literary novels and celebrity biographies came out in September and October; now, it’s genre fiction’s turn to try and catch the attention of shoppers in the run-up to Christmas.

Possibly the biggest release this month is Michael Connelly’s The Gods Of Guilt (Orion), the fifth in the Mickey Haller series that spawned hit movie The Lincoln Lawyer. Connelly’s Haller novels are usually much lighter in tone than his stygian Harry Bosch series but The Gods Of Guilt, in which Haller tries to uncover the fate of an old call-girl client, is a little cumbersome. Connelly takes too much time setting the story up and becomes… Read the full story]]>

Margaret Drabble’s new novel The Pure Gold Baby takes its name from a line in a Sylvia Plath poem (Picture: Ruth Corney)

Dame Margaret Drabble has written 17 acclaimed novels. Her latest is The Pure Gold Baby

I’m very interested in the idea of innocence and someone who could do no harm, because most of us are full of harmful thoughts. The novel’s ‘pure gold baby’, Anna, remains innocent of her heritage and her instinct is to be good and to please.

How disability has been portrayed in novels is fascinating. Anna is labelled as ‘special needs’ and is looked after by her single mother, Jess. The novel spans… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/04/margaret-drabble-in-our-head-we-switch-tenses-all-the-time-4170280/feed/0Margaret Drabble's new novel The Pure Gold Baby takes its name from a Sylvia Plath poem (Picture: Ruth Corney)pauldietrich2013Margaret Drabble's new novel The Pure Gold Baby takes its name from a Sylvia Plath poem (Picture: Ruth Corney)Madonna in focus: In front of the lens in 1983http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/01/madonna-in-focus-in-front-of-the-lens-in-1983-4169149/
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Raped at knifepoint on a rooftop, held-up at gunpoint, repeatedly burgled… a recent account of Madonna’s early days as a struggling artist in New York made for harrowing reading.

The Michigan-born singer moved to the Big Apple in 1978 at the age of 19 and found it a daunting place. ‘New York wasn’t everything I thought it would be,’ she wrote in October’s Harper’s Bazaar. ‘It did not welcome me with open arms.’

But Madonna NYC 83, a new book by iconic photographer Richard Corman, shows the singer soon put that rocky start behind her.

By 1983, she was firmly ingratiated as part of New York’s bustling Lower East Side collective… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/01/photographer-richard-corman-i-always-knew-madonna-was-special-4168500/feed/0AD_119389990.jpgannapunshonMadonna in New York in 1983 (Picture: Richard Corman)Fearie Tales, Ghosthunters and Marina: The best in spooky fictionhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/10/31/fearie-tales-ghosthunters-and-marina-the-best-in-spooky-fiction-4167608/
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Want some sinister reading for All Souls? These ghostly goodies will shake you up.

For a goosebump-raising story, look no further than the beautifully illustrated Fearie Tales, edited by Stephen Jones.

Original Grimm tales such as Rumpelstiltskin and The Hare’s Bride are interspersed with retellings by modern masters including Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix and John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let The Right One In).

All the time-honoured horror themes are here: changelings, child-eaters and spirits of vengeance. High notes include Ramsey Campbell’s Find My Name, in which Doreen hears a dreadful voice over her grandson’s baby monitor, and Tanith Lee’s sinister take on Rapunzel.

Philip Shenon’s new book takes a close look at JFK and the Warren Commission (Picture: Ian Dodds)

The 50 years that have passed since the assassination of President Kennedy have served only to foster rather than dampen theories as to what happened that day in Dallas.

Take your pick from plots involving Jimmy Hoffa, the mob, the Russians, the Cubans (pro- or anti-Castro) and even Lyndon B Johnson, who took JFK’s place in the White House.

Which still leaves the tantalising possibility that the killer was Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone. Such was the conclusion of the Warren Commission, the Washington grandees entrusted by Lyndon B Johnson to combat the rumours… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/30/a-cruel-and-shocking-act-so-who-did-kill-president-john-f-kennedy-4165696/feed/0ID_Final_v2.jpgstaceymcintoshPhilip Shenon's new book takes a close look at JFK and the Warren Commission (Picture: Ian Dodds)On my e-reader: Jill Murphy’s picks including To Kill A Mockingbird and First Lighthttp://metro.co.uk/2013/10/30/on-my-e-reader-jill-murphys-picks-including-to-kill-a-mockingbird-and-first-light-4165704/
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Jill Murphy, author of The Worst Witch And The Wishing Star (Picture: supplied)

Author Jill Murphy reveals what’s on her e-reader, including Keeper and First Light.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee This is one of my all-time favourite books, the story of a decent lawyer standing up to racial bigotry, seen through the eyes of his children, Scout and Jem. Who could forget the spectral figure of Boo Radley, secretly watching over them? Or the stand-off with the Ku Klux Klan outside the jail? Or Scout, trapped inside her ham costume, running for her life?

Keeper by Andrea Gillies The story of the writer’s decision to take on the full-time care… Read the full story]]>

Author Adam Nevill was terrified of TV puppet shows when he was a child (Picture: supplied)

Adam Nevill, 43, worked as a night watchman before sparking a bidding war.

House Of Small Shadows is a haunted house novel. It’s about an antiques expert who is asked to evaluate the collection of Britain’s most famous taxidermist and puppeteer, who has died. While looking through the collection, she has flashbacks to her own youth and there is a synthesis between what’s in the house and her childhood memories.

As a child I was terrified of the puppet shows that used to be on children’s television – stuff like Pipkins, even Rupert The Bear. That… Read the full story]]>

At dusk on a blowy, dank late-October afternoon, an unexpected stranger delivers a parcel.

Inside is a black slipcase with a large gothic S emblazoned on the front. After tearing off the bindings, a slightly dog-eared, unreturned library hardback – The Ship Of Theseus by VM Straka – slides out.

The name of the author means nothing to me, so I am ashamed to discover from the introduction the prolific but reclusive Straka is today regarded as one of the key figures of 20th-century modernism and there is a thriving academic industry in trying to identify who he was, what his books meant and how he… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/29/jj-abrams-the-star-wars-and-star-trek-wizards-tricksy-new-novel-s-4166049/feed/0AD_119237772.jpgstaceymcintoshJJ Abrams teases with a trailer for his new novel (Picture: supplied)JJ Abrams is in charge of both Star Trek and Star Wars (Picture: Julien Hekimian/WireImage)A transcript from JJ Abrams's new work (Picture: supplied)Author Philip Kerr: If it ain’t broke, DO fix ithttp://metro.co.uk/2013/10/29/author-philip-kerr-if-it-aint-broke-do-fix-it-4164310/
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Philip Kerr (Picture: Rex)

While we’re used to detective novels in which the devil plays a part, I don’t think we’re used to ones featuring religion.

I was interested in exploring things that were important to me. I had a very religious upbringing. I was brought up Baptist and we never started a meal or ended a day without having a little chat with Jesus. I haven’t believed for 30 years but, like in GK Chesterton’s phrase ‘a twitch on the thread…’, I sometimes think the thread is a little stronger than I thought it was.

It amazes me when you leave Britain how open other societies can be. I spent days with the FBI for the book. The guy looking… Read the full story]]>

When did you last post a letter? I think the last one I sent was about ten years ago; the last email, ten minutes ago.

This probably wouldn’t surprise Simon Garfield, whose muddled yet informative new book on the rise and fall of handwritten correspondence contains a revealing aside on the recently reworded theme tune to long-running children’s show Postman Pat.

Where the stop-motion postie once brought ‘letters to your door’, he now brings only ‘parcels’. Clearly, I’m not the only one whose postal habits have condemned the newly privatised Royal Mail to serve chiefly as footman to tax-shy discount retailers.

New time travel adventures include The Violent Century, The Time Traveller’s Almanac and Fiendish Schemes (Pictures: supplied)

British superheroes vie with Nazi, Soviet and US rivals during World War II and beyond in The Violent Century (Hodder & Stoughton) by Israeli-born author Lavie Tidhar.

It’s the X-Men as written by John le Carré, a shadowy alternate history in which cynical Cold War compromises are all too real. Agents Fogg and Oblivion investigate a conspiracy dating back 75 years to post-war Berlin.

The British duo haven’t aged since 1932, when hundreds of mutants were created from the sub-atomic wave unleashed by a German scientist. Several years later, warring nations rally the troops… Read the full story]]>

Sandi Toksvig is reading Kathy Lette’s The Boy Who Fell To Earth at the moment (Picture: Abigail Zoe Martin)

Author and comedian Sandi Toksvig reveals what’s on her e-reader.

Heart Of The Hero by Kari Herbert
Herbert’s father was also a famous polar explorer but what about her mother? Here is the story of the women who inspired the great polar explorers. As is so often the case in history, the men achieved greatness while the unsung women helped make it happen.

The Man Who Dropped The Le Creuset On His Toe And Other Bourgeois Mishaps by Christopher Matthew
Christopher Matthew is a comic genius whose book of poems… Read the full story]]>

Elizabeth Gilbert’s engrossing new fictional book signals a different kind of departure (Picture: Jennifer Schatten)

Elizabeth Gilbert is about to take flight; she is in an airport, awaiting a plane to Atlanta. Somehow, it feels appropriate to interview her in transit.

Elizabeth Gilbert is about to take flight; she is in an airport, awaiting a plane to Atlanta. Somehow, it feels appropriate to interview her in transit.

After all, this is the woman who gained international renown with best-selling 2006 memoir Eat, Pray, Love about a soul-searching journey she took through Italy, India and Indonesia to recover from a painful divorce. ‘I have been blessed with a gipsy bone,’ laughs Gilbert. ‘I’ve been… Read the full story]]>

You wouldn’t think it to look at him but Homer Simpson is a mathematical genius capable of handling seemingly unsolvable equations.

This, and a host of other hidden maths moments inserted in episodes of the hit cartoon by the show’s super-geeky writers, is unearthed in a new book.

The Simpsons And Their Mathematical Secrets hit best-seller charts this week. Now, physicist-turned-author Simon Singh, who spent eight years compiling maths references from the series, is taking the book into schools to inspire students.

‘I spotted a reference to Fermat’s Last Theorem in an episode, so I started looking at who’s responsible for this,’ says Singh. ‘It was David S Cohen. He’s got a… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/18/doh-homer-simpson-is-helping-kids-with-their-maths-in-school-4150633/feed/0AD_118350807.jpgstaceymcintoshHomer Simpson can help you with maths, apparently (Picture: Fox)Simon Singh showed that Homer and the rest of the SImpsons are geniuses (Picture: Fox)Sergio De La Pava: Novel historian Steven Moore is scarily well readhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/10/17/sergio-de-la-pava-novel-historian-steven-moore-is-scarily-well-read-4148749/
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Sergio De La Pava, the author of A Naked Singularity, is reading Exiles by James Joyce (Picture: Genevieve McCarthy)

The author of A Naked Singularity explains why James Joyce, Margaret Sayers Peden and Steven Moore are his authors of the moment.

Exiles by James Joyce
In between Portrait Of The Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses, Joyce collaborated with Henrik Ibsen on a play. OK, not really, it just feels that way as you read about this love quadrangle described in surprisingly straightforward prose whose perhaps most salient characteristic is its courageous frankness for the time.

A Woman Of Genius by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz; translation by Margaret Sayers Peden
Out of… Read the full story]]>

Elegant, lucid and long, Donna Tartt’s third novel, The Goldfinch, is, in the best kind of way, an old-fashioned story despite its very contemporary settings and subject matters.

A 21st-century take on the coming-of-age novel (or Bildungsroman if you want to sound like a character Tartt might skewer within the pages of a novel saturated in references to art and aesthetics), The Goldfinch is an in-depth account of how and why his life went off course by New Yorker Theo Drecker.

Libyan female soldiers parade in front of a mainly female audience in 2003 at a celebration of Gaddafi’s reign (Picture: Ramzi Haidar/AFP/Getty)

Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi imprisoned schoolgirls to abuse and rape on a daily basis, according to a new book by French journalist Annick Cojean. The horrifying evidence of the late dictator’s serial sex crimes came to light while Cojean was investigating incidents of rape during Libya’s 2011 revolution: she has now revealed the details in her book, Gaddafi’s Harem.

‘Women who have been raped in Libya won’t even discuss it with their family,’ she explains. So she was surprised when a female doctor told her of a woman who was raped by Gaddafi himself.

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt’s autobiography Faster Than Lightning (HarperSport) shows about as much humility as any six-time gold medallist and triple world record holder needs.

Surviving a car crash in 2009 was ‘a sign that I’d been chosen to become the fastest man on Earth’. He ‘felt deadly’ training for the Beijing Olympics and ‘wanted to kill people with my season… whenever I checked myself in the mirror, I’d think, “Wow, Usain, looking pretty damn good”.’

Although he admits that before London 2012 his ligaments felt like ‘rusting barbed wire’, the likeable thing about Bolt is… Read the full story]]>

Eleanor Catton is congratulated by her partner after winning the Man Booker Prize at the Guildhall, London. (Picture: PA)

Eleanor Catton has scooped the prestigious Man Booker Prize for her ‘dazzling’ novel The Luminaries – becoming the youngest author to win the award.

The 28-year-old author was presented the award at London’s Guildhall, replying when asked how it felt to be the prize’s youngest winner: ‘I feel very honoured and proud to be living in a world where the facts of somebody’s biography doesn’t give them a way of how people read their work, and I think that’s true of age and also of ethnicity and all sort of other features of being human.’

Wild Swans author Jung Chang on restoring the status of the most important woman in Chinese history.

The Empress Dowager Cixi is the most important woman in Chinese history. In her day, women really had a very low status in China – they were not allowed to leave their house. Yet from the time of the 1861 coup that made her regent, until her death in 1908, she was, behind the scenes, the absolute ruler of a third of the world’s population.

She was a moderniser but her image is of an archly conservative diehard despot, so this is a radical reinterpretation. She outlawed foot-binding in 1902 and abolished the medieval practice of death by… Read the full story]]>

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As London gears up for another instalment of Frieze, and the current state of visual arts is once again spotlit, historian and art critic Kelly Grovier has bravely proffered his list of 100 Works Of Art That Will Define Our Age (Thames & Hudson).

Not everything Grovier picks meets with his approval – he’s dismissive of the Chapman brothers’ Hell and Sarah Lucas’s Au Naturel – but he makes a case for each inclusion, often citing the broader narratives of the times that a piece chimed with. Grovier reaches across genres and continents, though this still feels like a British-based survey.

Anthropologist, broadcaster, author and painter Desmond Morris tries something even more ambitious in The Artistic Ape (Red Lemon Press) – a trawl through 3million years… Read the full story]]>

Vanity Fair by William Thackeray
For years I’ve avoided reading this 19th-century masterpiece. I was put off by the author intruding in the story. However, I’ve been reading it and loving it. The writing is incredibly fresh, the characters superbly drawn and, although it seems to have a dark view of humanity, the jokes make me laugh.

The Man Without A Face by Masha Gessen
Can this brave, shocking biography of Vladimir Putin be true? Masha Gessen, a Moscow-based writer and journalist, draws a picture of a true monster, trained by the KGB and by turns corrupt, incompetent and vengeful. It reads like a thriller.

The Mysterious Affair At Styles by Agatha Christie
It’s odd to be reading Agatha Christie again but I’ve been asked to write a foreword to a new edition. This is the first mystery she wrote and I was rather surprised to guess the… Read the full story]]>

Wilbur Smith followed Mokhiniso Rakhimova into a bookshop and bought her caviar. They later married (Picture: Rex)

I’m at a swish private members’ club in Mayfair to meet Wilbur Smith, the multi-millionaire best-selling author of 33 novels whose career has lasted almost 50 years.

With its wood panelling and portraits, it’s a suitably old-fashioned location to talk to the 80-year-old Smith, whose books are informed by a childhood in South Africa when women stayed at home and men went out and shot wild animals.

His father, who Smith idolised, owned a cattle ranch in Rhodesia and he’s written lovingly of seeing his dad shoot a lion that was prowling around their campsite while the… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/09/wilbur-smith-i-trailed-my-wife-to-be-into-a-bookshop-and-showed-her-my-novel-4139319/feed/0Wilbur Smith followed Mokhiniso Rakhimova into a bookshop and bought her caviar. They later married (Picture: Rex)emmahutchingsWilbur Smith followed Mokhiniso Rakhimova into a bookshop and bought her caviar. They later married (Picture: Rex)Wilbur Smith on the cusp of his writing career in 1964 (Picture: Getty)Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy – a disappointment that’s short on laughshttp://metro.co.uk/2013/10/08/bridget-jones-mad-about-the-boy-a-disappointment-thats-short-on-laughs-4139026/
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It’s pants: Renée Zellweger in a scene from the 2001 film Bridget Jones’s Diary (Picture: Splash)

Book review: Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy

Well, this is disappointing, rather like a much-anticipated get-together with an old friend that ends up with you going home early, too sober, wondering what you’d seen in them in the first place.

Way way back in the mid-1990s, I was a Bridget Jones early adopter, buying the Independent newspaper on the day that the column that bore her name was printed, recognising in her sketches of booze-fuelled misalliances and mishap an exaggerated version of my own singleton adventures. Millions did. As the books, and then the even more slapstick films,… Read the full story]]>

Crime author Val McDermid reveals what’s on her e-reader – including Terry Pratchett, a Cold War thriller and a chunky book by Eleanor Catton.

Tomorrow’s Ghost by Anthony Price
I often use my e-reader to revisit old favourites. Price wrote a brilliant series of Cold War spy thrillers that draw on history, so they make me feel virtuous because I’m learning something as well as losing myself in a good book.

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
E-readers are also perfect for those big fat books that hurt your wrists. I loved Eleanor Catton’s first novel and I can’t… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/03/val-mcdermid-i-take-discworld-books-on-my-travels-to-cheer-me-up-4131640/feed/0emmahutchingsVal McDermid uses her e-reader for old favourites and heavy tomes (Picture: Charlie Hopkinson/Little Brown)emmahutchingsVal McDermid uses her e-reader for old favourites and heavy tomes (Picture: Charlie Hopkinson/Little Brown)Val McDermid is reading Terry Pratchett, Anthony Price and Eleanor Catton (Pictures: supplied)Reviews: A London Year and other new books about the capitalhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/10/03/reviews-a-london-year-and-other-new-books-about-the-capital-4131723/
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A London Year, Becoming A Londoner and This Other London examine life in the capital (Pictures: supplied)

Books out this week include journeys and letters from four centuries, diaries from the city’s cultural heart and walks to its lost and secret corners.

In A London Year, passages from the journals and letters of scores of authors stretching back four centuries have been chosen to match every day of the year, and the erudite selection by editors Travis Elborough and Nick Rennison yields gem after gem.

On one page, Michael Palin in 1970 is delighting in spending an extra half hour in bed; on the next, it’s 1810 and painter John Constable… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/03/reviews-a-london-year-and-other-new-books-about-the-capital-4131723/feed/0LondonerShelfspaceemmahutchingsA London Year, Becoming A Londoner and This Other London examine life in the capital (Pictures: supplied)Malcolm Gladwell takes on received wisdom again in David & Goliathhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/10/03/malcolm-gladwell-takes-on-received-wisdom-again-in-david-goliath-4131587/
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Gladwell begins with the story of David and Goliath, read wrongly, he says, as ‘a metaphor for improbable victory’ (Illustration: Ian Dodds)

The pop-sociology of half-Jamaican, English-born New Yorker Malcolm Gladwell aims to help us live smarter.

Blink (2005) made the case for why we should follow our instincts, while Outliers (2008) identified patterns in the lives of high-fliers in diverse fields – the headline being that behind every star performer lies 10,000 hours of practice.

There’s usually a spritz of jargon – in Blink, the term ‘thin slicing’ describes what most of us call a ‘snap decision’ – and a prose style that coaxes (or patronises)… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/03/malcolm-gladwell-takes-on-received-wisdom-again-in-david-goliath-4131587/feed/0emmahutchingsGladwell begins with the story of David and Goliath, read wrongly, he says, as ‘a metaphor for improbable victory’ (Illustration: www.iandodds.co.uk)emmahutchingsGladwell begins with the story of David and Goliath, read wrongly, he says, as ‘a metaphor for improbable victory’ (Illustration: www.iandodds.co.uk)David & Goliath attempts to turn the concept of advantage on its head (Picture: supplied)Graphic novelist Isabel Greenberg: ‘Don’t put that in – it makes me sound super-nerdy!’http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/03/graphic-novelist-isabel-greenberg-dont-put-that-in-it-makes-me-sound-super-nerdy-4132040/
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Graphic novelist Isabel Greenberg photographed by Metro at her north London home (Picture: Daniel Lynch)

Isabel Greenberg is the new face of comics. Not just because one look at this petite, pretty blonde confounds that still lingering old cliché that comics are only created and enjoyed by spotty adult males in unwashed Spider-Man T-shirts.

It’s because, now aged just 25, she was born around the time the graphic novel genre arguably arrived with Alan Moore’s Watchmen and hit puberty just as Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan won The Guardian First Book Award in 2001, marking comics’ official embrace by the British literary establishment.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/03/graphic-novelist-isabel-greenberg-dont-put-that-in-it-makes-me-sound-super-nerdy-4132040/feed/0Graphic novelist Isabel Greenberg photographed by Metro at her north London home (Picture: Daniel Lynch)pauldietrich2013Graphic novelist Isabel Greenberg photographed by Metro at her north London home (Picture: Daniel Lynch)Scenes from The Encyclopedia Of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg (Picture: Isabel Greenberg)A scene from The Encyclopedia Of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg (Picture: Isabel Greenberg)Artwork from The Encyclopedia Of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg (Picture: Isabel Greenberg)Alec Baldwin and Jackie Collins pay tribute to ‘real gentleman’ Tom Clancyhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/10/02/alec-baldwin-and-jackie-collins-pay-tribute-to-real-gentleman-tom-clancy-4132281/
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Alec Baldwin played Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October (Picture: Getty)

Alec Baldwin, Jackie Collins and Brad Thor are just some of the well-known names who have paid tribute to US writer Tom Clancy.

Baldwin, tweeting from his Alec Baldwin Foundation account, said: ‘Rest in peace the great writer Tom Clancy. A… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/02/alec-baldwin-and-jackie-collins-pay-tribute-to-real-gentleman-tom-clancy-4132281/feed/0AD_117223455.jpgannleeukmetroNEW YORK, NY - JUNE 27: Actor Alec Baldwin arrives for actor James Gandolfini's funeral at The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine on June 27, 2013 in New York City. Gandolfini passed away on June 19, 2013 while vacationing in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)Novelist Tom Clancy is shown in this February 5, 1998 file photo. The bestselling author, whose military thrillers inspired movies and video games, has died at the age of 66, according to news reports. REUTERS/Eric Miller/Files (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT OBITUARY MEDIA)Top 10 quotes from Clear and Present Danger writer Tom Clancyhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/10/02/top-10-quotes-from-clear-and-present-danger-writer-tom-clancy-4132173/
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His novels The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, and The Sum of All Fears have all been turned into box office hits.

Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck have all portrayed Jack Ryan on the big screen.

Known for his detailed espionage, Clancy was a hugely successful novelist.

Here are some of his best quotes.

Tom Clancy has died aged 66 (Picture: EPA)

1. ‘The point of life was to press on, to do the best you can, to make the world a better place.’ – Clear and Present Danger

2. ‘Nothing is as real as a dream. The world… Read the full story]]>
http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/02/top-10-quotes-from-clear-and-present-danger-writer-tom-clancy-4132173/feed/0Tom ClancyannleeukmetroFive stories you need to know at 5Bill Bryson: I started off thinking Calvin Coolidge was a clown, then I became quite fond of himhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/10/02/bill-bryson-i-started-off-thinking-calvin-coolidge-was-a-clown-then-i-became-quite-fond-of-him-4130129/
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Bill Bryson’s new book explores extraordinary events that took place in 1927 America (Picture: Cynthia Bryson)

The 61-year-old author on why the year America took flight became the subject of his latest book.

I discovered by accident that the summer of 1927 was the most exciting and eventful period in the United States that any nation has had in modern peace time. I had no idea at the outset how many stories I would end up telling. Initially I planned to do a dual biography of the aviator Charles Lindbergh (who became the world’s most famous person overnight after crossing the Atlantic in May 1927) and the baseball player Babe Ruth,… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/02/bill-bryson-i-started-off-thinking-calvin-coolidge-was-a-clown-then-i-became-quite-fond-of-him-4130129/feed/0Bill Bryson's new book explores extraordinary events that took place in 1927 America (Picture: Cynthia Bryson)carolynfaulderBill Bryson's new book explores extraordinary events that took place in 1927 America (Picture: Cynthia Bryson)Dear diary, don’t make me live in a world where Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy are no morehttp://metro.co.uk/2013/09/30/dear-diary-dont-make-me-live-in-a-world-where-bridget-jones-and-mark-darcy-are-no-more-4128216/
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Just found out Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy sees literary love of my life Mark Darcy killed off. Why would HF do this, WHY?! Am in first stage of grief: denial. I don’t believe these rumours. Am going back to bed to read first two Bridget books with box of Milk Tray and glass of Chardonnay.

11.54 am

Got a call from BFF who works in publishing. It is true. How can this be happening? Why… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/26/stephen-kings-latest-novel-doctor-sleep-is-a-worthy-sequel-to-the-shining-4111264/feed/0Stephen King's Doctor Sleep tells the story of Danny, whose dad was played by Jack Nicholson in The Shining (Picture: www.iandodds.co.uk)pauldietrich2013Stephen King's Doctor Sleep tells the story of Danny, whose dad was played by Jack Nicholson in The Shining (Picture: www.iandodds.co.uk)Anya von Bremzen went on a culinary journey of Russian historyhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/09/25/anya-von-bremzen-went-on-a-culinary-journey-of-russian-history-4101363/
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Anya von Bremzen (Picture: John von Bremzen)

My mother and I have always been a team. I was 11, in 1974, when we emigrated to the US from Moscow. We left behind my father and a bi g family. Suddenly, it was just the two of us in this alien world. Now we are very lucky to live two blocks apart. We cook together. I am part of her dinner parties, she is part of mine; we are really best friends. For this book, we cooked our way through the decades of 20th-century Russian history, from the pre-Revolutionary period to the Putin era. This journey bonded us even further.

Renée Zellwegger as Bridget Jones: Is diary writing destined to be hidden under the covers? (Picture: Universal)

‘Dear Diary,Had an awful day today. My mum and dad made me go to bed after Wogan was over (it was still light outside!) and I also broke my Optimus Prime figure. I hate the world. Can’t wait to watch Ninja Turtles tomorrow after school though! Night night!’

I didn’t keep a regular diary in my youth, but if I had, it might have contained an entry that went a little like the above.

Dairies have a long and illustrious history, which can be traced through Samuel Pepys to… Read the full story]]>

Meg Rosoff wants her headstone to read: ‘I’m a born pessimist so am never disappointed’ (Picture: Zoe Norfolk)

Meg Rosoff, author of Picture Me Gone, reveals what’s on her e-reader at the moment.

Love by Katherine Dunn

Geek Love was huge in the US in the 1990s. Having left NYC in 1989, I missed it so I’m playing catch-up. The book opens with a carnival couple planning their ideal family by dosing mom with radiation, arsenic and amphetamines during pregnancy. Hey presto, they produce a perfect selection of freak-show kids. And the book only gets weirder…

American Pastoral by Philip Roth
I’ve never been completely convinced by the greatness of… Read the full story]]>

Pynchon’s new book is set in New York, 2001;the central character is Maxine Tarnow, a Jewish Manhattanite (Illustration: Ian Dodds)

Unreadable, unputdownable: Thomas Pynchon is in that elite group of writers who divide opinion among readers with uncommon passion.

There are those who swear that his mammoth 1973 novel, Gravity’s Rainbow – a sprawling inquiry into paranoia, conspiracy theories, Nazi rocket scientists and the frontline of physics, among other themes – is one of the greatest novels of the past century.

Others have hurled it across the room in frustration at the impenetrability of his dense forest of references, the bewildering profusion of… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/19/bleeding-edge-by-thomas-pynchon-beneath-the-wordplay-theres-serious-intent-4048696/feed/0Pynchon’s new book is set in New York, 2001, and the central character in a crowded cast is Maxine Tarnow, a Jewish Manhattanite (Illustration: www.iandodds.co.uk)emmahutchingsPynchon’s new book is set in New York, 2001, and the central character in a crowded cast is Maxine Tarnow, a Jewish Manhattanite (Illustration: www.iandodds.co.uk)Theatre biographies: Revel in the drama of Blakemore, Olivier and Jacobihttp://metro.co.uk/2013/09/19/theatre-biographies-revel-in-the-drama-of-blakemore-olivier-and-jacobi-4048734/
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An account of life at the National Theatre coincides with the publication of new biography of Laurence Olivier and a memoir by Derek Jacobi (Pictures: supplied)

The National Theatre in London will be celebrating its 50th birthday in November with a sort of live megamix of its ‘greatest hits’, to be broadcast on BBC2 (it’ll be a high-end Britain’s Got Talent).

Amid all the general pomp and circumstance, to celebrate our nation’s flagship theatre there’ll be talks, exhibitions and even an interactive treasure hunt… but no official tie-in book.

However, the gap is pretty comprehensively filled by a trio of books that… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/19/theatre-biographies-revel-in-the-drama-of-blakemore-olivier-and-jacobi-4048734/feed/0An account of life at the National Theatre coincides with the publication of new biography of Laurence Olivier and a memoir by Derek Jacobi (Pictures: supplied)emmahutchingsAn account of life at the National Theatre coincides with the publication of new biography of Laurence Olivier and a memoir by Derek Jacobi (Pictures: supplied)Author Tom Franklin: Writing The Tilted World with my wife was like duelling laptopshttp://metro.co.uk/2013/09/18/author-tom-franklin-writing-the-tilted-world-with-my-wife-was-like-duelling-laptops-4036899/
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Tom Franklin ditched the zombies for the flood with his new book (Picture: supplied)

Author Tom Franklin talks about co-writing The Tilted World with his wife, poet Beth Ann Fennelly.

I thoroughly enjoy writing about the Deep South. I love the region, although I did not like it growing up there. I didn’t like country music or football – I liked comic books and telling stories. It was only when I left – I went north to Arkansas, which I appreciate doesn’t sound very far north – and started telling everybody the stories of my life. They were so astounded I began to rethink it.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/18/author-tom-franklin-writing-the-tilted-world-with-my-wife-was-like-duelling-laptops-4036899/feed/0Tom Franklin ditched the zombies for the flood with his new book (Picture: supplied)tomfulfordjonesTom Franklin ditched the zombies for the flood with his new book (Picture: supplied)Alastair Campbell: This Is Where I Am is a brilliant story, beautifully toldhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/09/12/alastair-campbell-this-is-where-i-am-is-a-brilliant-story-beautifully-told-3959438/
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Alastair Campbell’s novel, My Name Is… is out now (Picture: Rex)

Former government spin doctor Alastair Campbell reveals what’s on his ereader and why.

This Is Where I Am by Karen Campbell
This was the best novel I read on holiday. It is the story of a Somali refugee and his daughter fleeing horror, and a recently bereaved Glaswegian mentor trying to help them adapt to a new life, who becomes fascinated by their past. A brilliant story, beautifully told by Campbell – no relation.

L’Assommoir by Émile Zola
As I was writing about alcoholism I dug this out. I first read it at university. Set in working-class 19th-century Paris, it is as good a portrayal of… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/12/alastair-campbell-this-is-where-i-am-is-a-brilliant-story-beautifully-told-3959438/feed/0Alastair Campbell's novel, My Name Is... is out now (Picture: Rex)carolynfaulderAlastair Campbell's novel, My Name Is... is out now (Picture: Rex)Simon Schama thinks The Story Of The Jews may ruffle feathershttp://metro.co.uk/2013/09/12/simon-schama-thinks-the-story-of-the-jews-may-ruffle-feathers-3958504/
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Simon Schama’s new book accompanies a BBC television series (Picture: Tim Kirby)

Historian Simon Schama, 68, on what prompted The Story Of The Jews, his latest BBC series and accompanying two-volume book.

I describe the Bible as a possible echo of what might be historical truth. It’s not a social or verifiable document. It contains many types of stories: some touch on history, some are embedded in it and some fly free from it. Together they constitute, if not a unified history, a very rich cultural memory.

The Jews took their identity with them, that’s the key to their survival. Everything else may have been destroyed but they kept their writings with them in portable scrolls.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/12/simon-schama-thinks-the-story-of-the-jews-may-ruffle-feathers-3958504/feed/0Simon Schama's new book accompanies a BBC television series (Picture: Tim Kirby)tomfulfordjonesSimon Schama's new book accompanies a BBC television series (Picture: Tim Kirby)Booker shortlisted The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri is bleak but engrossinghttp://metro.co.uk/2013/09/12/booker-shortlisted-the-lowland-by-jhumpa-lahiri-is-bleak-but-engrossing-3959306/
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Even before Tuesday’s announcement that it had been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, this novel came freighted with expectations.

The 46-year-old author has previously published only one other novel, The Namesake, and two collections of short stories (The Interpreter Of Maladies and Unaccustomed Earth) but these have conferred on her a glamorous literary stardom, especially in the US.

Mira Nair made a film of The Namesake. The Interpreter of Maladies won a Pulitzer Prize. In April 2008, Unaccustomed Earth performed the rare feat for a short story collection of going straight to No.1 on the… Read the full story]]>

Autobiographies by Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins coincide with a book about Einstein’s heroes (Pictures: supplied)

In a turn-up for the book, the two most eagerly anticipated autobiographies of the month come not from the usual celebrity quarters but from a pair of scientists.

OK, Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins are rather more famous than your bogstandard academic, but neither has exactly gone Towie on us, and their respective books are certainly distinctive.

With Hawking, that’s inevitable. The writing pace of the world’s most famous motor neurone disease sufferer is ponderous (he reckons about three words a minute) and My Brief History lives up to its name.

The 1990s was the decade of the first Gulf War, mad cow disease, alcopops, the murder of Stephen Lawrence, Girl Power, the foundation of the Child Support Agency and the Champions League.

Alwyn Turner has smart and interesting things to say about all these and much more besides in this stimulating history of the period as seen through the lens of British politics and pop culture.

His many-tentacled frame of reference is staggering. The fine grain of his commentary comes from how much he seems to have read, watched and… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/05/alwyn-turners-book-recreates-the-1990s-in-all-their-ugly-detail-3950119/feed/0emmahutchingsAlwyn Turner’s book brings to life the era of John Major and A Touch Of Frost (Illustration: www.iandodds.co.uk)emmahutchingsAlwyn Turner’s book brings to life the era of John Major and A Touch Of Frost (Illustration: www.iandodds.co.uk)Step back two decades with Fever Pitch, Trainspotting and Bridget Jones's Diary (Pictures: supplied)On my e-reader: What Dead Water author Ann Cleeves is reading at the momenthttp://metro.co.uk/2013/09/05/on-my-e-reader-what-dead-water-author-ann-cleeves-is-reading-at-the-moment-3950202/
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The Road Home by Rose Tremain
This is my current read. I picked up a hard copy in a cottage on Skokholm, an island off Pembrokeshire, and was so blown away by the writer’s ability to bring a character to life in a few words that I had to finish it.

The Shape Of Water by Andrea Camilleri
My reading passion is translated crime fiction. For escape, I’ll go for anything by Camilleri, who sets his books in Sicily. You get sun, food and wine, with a… Read the full story]]>

Samantha Shannon’s The Bone Season is the first in a series (Picture: Mark Pringle)

She’s already sold the film rights to her first book, The Bone Season. Now, all 21-year-old Samantha Shannon has to do is spend the rest of her twenties writing its six sequels…

‘I’m not going to give it the big “I am” now that I’m a New York Times bestseller,’ vows Samantha Shannon. She’s on her way to her publisher’s office in central London to toast the runaway success of her fantasy debut The Bone Season.

Shannon is 21. Few could blame her if it did go to her head. But she’s calm – wary, even. ‘Hold your horses,’ she… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/04/the-bone-season-author-samantha-shannon-i-know-my-book-isnt-that-literary-3948898/feed/0Samantha ShannonstaceymcintoshSamantha Shannon’s The Bone Season is the first in a series (Picture: Mark Pringle)Author Eleanor Catton strikes literary gold with The Luminarieshttp://metro.co.uk/2013/09/04/author-eleanor-catton-strikes-literary-gold-with-the-luminaries-3948419/
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Eleanor Catton has written an 800-page murder mystery set during the New Zealand gold rushes (Picture: Photoshot)

The New Zealand author has been nominated for the Booker Prize for second novel The Luminaries, an 800-page murder mystery set in the 1860s.

The Luminaries is an astrological murder mystery set during one of the New Zealand gold rushes in the 1860s. The town’s wealthiest man has disappeared and everyone is trying to find out why. I fell in love with the era. The gold rush was a significant period in New Zealand’s history as the population boomed. I grew up in Christchurch and gold rush stories were always in the air.

Debut author Hannah Kent explains how the tale of an Icelandic execution she stumbled upon ten years ago set in motion her novel that fits in perfectly with the vogue for Scandi crime.

Sauðárkrókur. That’s where Hannah Kent wound up when, aged 17, she left Australia for a year-long exchange trip to Iceland in 2003. She thought she’d be off to Reykjavik but when she discovered her actual destination – a dark, snowy fishing village that wasn’t even on her atlas – ‘it felt like oblivion, like the edge of the world’.

Samantha Shannon’s hit debut novel The Bone Season has been compared to the Harry Potter series and The Hunger Games. Here she picks her favourite fantasy worlds in literature…

1. New York City(from The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov): Asimov paints an unsettling and claustrophobic picture of an overpopulated Earth on which humans have withdrawn into vast underground domes, the ‘caves of steel’. All the buildings are connected by moving walkways that the protagonist, Elijah Baley, rides to work every day.

2. The Republic of Gilead (from The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood): A military dictatorship with a strict caste system, based on the brutal principles of the Old Testament. The realism and detail of Atwood’s world means Gilead is still the most terrifying dystopian setting I’ve ever encountered.

3. Oceania (from Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell): The sheer amount of surveillance in Orwell’s world is what makes it so memorable. A combination of endless paranoia and a suffocating cult… Read the full story]]>
http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/04/new-york-times-best-seller-samantha-shannon-middle-earth-is-the-ultimate-fantasy-paracosm-3948693/feed/0sharonloughersharonloughersharonloughersharonloughersharonlougherSamantha ShannonsharonlougherSamantha Shannon Back to school: Celebrate with these classroom classicshttp://metro.co.uk/2013/09/03/back-to-school-celebrate-with-these-classroom-classics-3945233/
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Hands up who likes books? (Picture: REUTERS)

Parents may well be breathing a sigh of relief as their offspring have to actually start wearing shoes again and brushing their hair in the mornings as they start a new term.

To get you back in the right mind-set here are seven books that all sum up school but in very different ways. You can almost smell the chalk in the pages. So, quiet at the back and get reading…

1. Tom Brown’s School Days – Thomas Hughes

First published in 1857, but not to be overlooked. Life at an English boarding school is told in great detail and with a lot of charm. Yes, now slightly quaint and old-fashioned but the life… Read the full story]]>
http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/03/back-to-school-celebrate-with-these-classroom-classics-3945233/feed/0Children, going to the first grade, gather in a classroom after a festive line-up to mark the upcoming start of another school year in school in SlutskmykitchenhellNeil Gaiman: The man who brought cult fiction to the mainstreamhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/09/02/neil-gaiman-the-man-who-brought-cult-fiction-to-the-mainstream-3943208/
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Writer Neil Gaiman (Picture: Getty)

Neil Gaiman’s been sitting with his arm in a bowl of iced water and he’s moved our interview from morning to afternoon because, after signing for and chatting to 1,000 fans until 1am, he’s on the verge of losing his voice. Such are the pitfalls of embarking on a nine-week signing tour.

‘I enjoy meeting the people,’ he says. ‘They want to say thanks – it’s wonderful and touching and magic. A thousand people a night is like a marathon, though. Around hour three, you look up and the line doesn’t seem any shorter and you have to keep going.’

The promotional push is for his latest novel, The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, which has… Read the full story]]>

In MaddAddam, Margaret Atwood says farewell to the dystopian world she created in Oryx And Crate (www.iandodds.co.uk)

MaddAddam
by Margaret Atwood
(Bloomsbury)

Booker-prize winning author Margaret Atwood has spent a lifetime hopping from genre to genre. The Year Of The Flood from 2009 was her first sequel, the follow-up to 2003’s brain-expandingly brilliant work of future fiction Oryx And Crake.

Now she’s brought out a third novel in the sequence. And although that makes it a trilogy, it’s fairly apparent Atwood had no series master plan back in 2003.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/29/margaret-atwood-goes-back-to-a-dystopian-future-in-maddadam-3940487/feed/0In MaddAddam, Margaret Atwood says farewell to the dystopian world she created in Oryx And Crate (www.iandodds.co.uk)pauldietrich2013In MaddAddam, Margaret Atwood says farewell to the dystopian world she created in Oryx And Crate (www.iandodds.co.uk)3 star ratingTurtles, Tintin and Ben Affleck’s Batman: Comic book guy Tim Leong and the Super Graphic novelhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/08/29/comic-book-guy-tim-leong-and-the-super-graphic-novel-3940404/
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A new book of graphs and charts gives a unique insight into the world of comics (Picture: Tim Leong/Chronicle Books)

Are you a comic book fan? Well, let’s test your fandom with a question: do you lie awake at night thinking about the different flavours of pizza munched by the members of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? See? Perhaps you are not as big a comic book fan as you thought. You didn’t even know TMNT started out as a comic, did you?

One person who does go ‘cowabunga’ over comics is designer Tim Leong. And he loves Ninja Turtles (‘Who doesn’t?’ he asks Metro, rhetorically). He loves them so much that he has devoted an entire infographic to their eating habits.

How The Light Gets In by Louise Penny, If You Were Here by Alafair Burke and The Riot by Laura Wilson (Picture: supplied)

Do women bring a different sensibility to the crime novel? Certainly, Canadian writer Louise Penny has created a Quebecois village for her Chief Inspector Gamache novels so cosily inviting, you almost expect her books to smell of hot chocolate and rustle like snow-white linen sheets.

The only problem with Three Pines is the number of mysterious deaths that occur there. Gamache is in dire straits in How The Light Gets In (Sphere, £19.99), struggling to uncover a plot at the highest level… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/29/three-female-crime-writers-to-investigate-penny-burke-and-wilson-3940510/feed/0How The Light Gets In by Louise Penny, If You Were Here by Alafair Burke and The Riot by Laura Wilson (Picture: supplied)pauldietrich2013How The Light Gets In by Louise Penny, If You Were Here by Alafair Burke and The Riot by Laura Wilson (Picture: supplied)Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson: Don’t test children, read to themhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/08/27/gruffalo-author-julia-donaldson-dont-test-children-read-to-them-3935622/
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Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson has written a follow-up to The Owl And The Pussycat (Picture: Getty)

The former Children’s Laureate on writing a sequel to Lear’s The Owl And The Pussycat and how to get children into books.

I was wooed by a publisher – but the idea of writing a sequel to The Owl And The Pussycat instantly appealed to me. I have always loved Edward Lear and welcomed the challenge to compose a new adventure using the same metre and nonsense language.

The whole poem isn’t nonsense: there can be an underlying emotional sense to it. The ‘nonsense’ comes in the language. Lear loved creating words like ‘runcible’ and places… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/27/gruffalo-author-julia-donaldson-dont-test-children-read-to-them-3935622/feed/0Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson has written a follow-up to The Owl And The Pussycat (Picture: Getty)pauldietrich2013Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson has written a follow-up to The Owl And The Pussycat (Picture: Getty)Samantha Shannon’s The Bone Season: No wonder Andy Serkis has snapped up the rightshttp://metro.co.uk/2013/08/22/samantha-shannons-the-bone-season-no-wonder-andy-serkis-has-snapped-up-the-rights-3932712/
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The Bone Season invites you into a world of mind-readers and a race called the Rephaim (Picture: Iandodds.co.uk)

What would it be like to be able to read other people’s minds?

It’s a skill all of us have perhaps at some point wished for and this is the special gift of 19-year-old clairvoyant Paige Mahoney, the heroine of this much-hyped debut novel written when its author herself was only 19.

Nevertheless, the heroine of this dystopian novel carries a wisdom far beyond her years. Paige’s clairvoyant talent will be, throughout the gripping novel, both a blessing and a curse.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/22/samantha-shannons-the-bone-season-no-wonder-andy-serkis-has-snapped-up-the-rights-3932712/feed/0The Bone Season invites you into a world of mind-readers and a race called the Rephaim (Picture: Iandodds.co.uk)pauldietrich2013The Bone Season invites you into a world of mind-readers and a race called the Rephaim (Picture: Iandodds.co.uk)On my e-reader: Wayne Johnston champions Winterson, Atwood and Amishttp://metro.co.uk/2013/08/22/on-my-e-reader-wayne-johnston-champions-winterson-atwood-and-amis-3932793/
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Wayne Johnston’s A World Elsewhere is out now (Picture: Jerry Bauer)

Author Wayne Johnston salutes three precocious debuts.

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette WintersonI don’t usually ‘theme read’ but recently I’ve been reading Promising First Novels Whose Precocious Authors Fulfilled Their Promise.

This led me to Winterson’s first novel, a wonderfully funny and weirdly haunting coming-of-age book, certainly the most accessible of all her books and, for the discerning reader, a harbinger of what she might do soon afterward, Sexing The Cherry. Oranges and cherries – such sweet fruit.

The Edible Woman by Margaret AtwoodOne of my all-time favourite first novels, it is every bit as sexy as Winterson’s Oranges and certainly as… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/22/on-my-e-reader-wayne-johnston-champions-winterson-atwood-and-amis-3932793/feed/0Wayne Johnston's A World Elsewhere is out now (Picture: Jerry Bauer)pauldietrich2013Wayne Johnston's A World Elsewhere is out now (Picture: Jerry Bauer)David Harris-Gershon, Elif Shafak and Miriam Toew enjoy degrees of success with their memoirshttp://metro.co.uk/2013/08/22/david-harris-gershon-elif-shafak-and-miriam-toew-enjoy-degrees-of-success-with-their-memoirs-3932838/
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Terrorism, post-natal depression and a dead father are tackled here (Picture: supplied)

When a bomb ripped through the campus cafeteria at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University in 2002, David Harris-Gershon’s wife Jamie was among those injured; two of their friends were killed.

The Jewish-American couple retreated back to the US and Harris-Gershon’s struggle to come to terms with the traumatic psychological debris left by the event crystallised when he read a newspaper report that said the bomber, Mohammad Odeh, had expressed remorse for his actions.

It triggered in him a need to understand what had led Odeh to attack – and to meet the man himself.

What Do You Buy The Children Of The Terrorist Who Tried To Kill Your Wife? (Oneworld,… Read the full story]]>

US author Robin Sloan was working at Twitter when he wrote his debut novel about a mysterious book cult (Picture: Supplied)

The book is an adventure set in a bookstore in San Francisco that turns out to be much more than it appears. My life in San Francisco has been split between working for technology companies such as Twitter and spending time in bookstores, so this incorporates both.

I hate thinking about the print versus digital debate as a zero sum game – it’s about both print and digital being good at different things. To even frame them as different formats seems wrong. My book includes… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/19/us-author-robin-sloan-writing-great-sci-fi-is-like-being-a-champion-athlete-3927180/feed/0US author Robin Sloan was working at Twitter when he wrote his debut novel about a mysterious book cult (Picture: Supplied)joannesmith2013US author Robin Sloan was working at Twitter when he wrote his debut novel about a mysterious book cult (Picture: Supplied)On my e-reader: Emran Mian recommends Federer and The Bankers’ New Clotheshttp://metro.co.uk/2013/08/15/on-my-e-reader-emran-mian-recommends-federer-and-the-bankers-new-clothes-3923471/
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Emran Mian (Picture: Supplied)

On my e-reader: Author Emran Mian’s recommendations

Federer by Chris Bowers
My favourite thing about my e-reader is that I can indulge my devotion to Roger Federer without people looking at the cover and trying to have a conversation along the lines of: ‘Isn’t he past his best?’

The House Fly and How to Suppress It: US Department of Agriculture Farmers’ Bulletin No. 1408 by FC Bishopp
The e-reader is an exciting tool with which to chase flies that have come into my bedroom fleeing the heat. While a rolled-up newspaper might be more effective, using an e-reader feels more, you know, 2.0. But I’m always happy to take advice on this important issue.

On July 18, 2011, visitors to the website of The Sun newspaper read that its owner, Rupert Murdoch, had been found dead in his garden after an apparent overdose.

The hoax – carried out at the height of the News Of The World phone-hacking scandal – was the work of LulzSec, a ‘hacktivist’ offshoot of Anonymous, a loose collective that for the past ten years has used the internet to disrupt institutions such as the Church of Scientology and the CIA.

Parmy Olson’s pacy and informative investigation into this shadowy transatlantic movement uses interviews with central figures, including Shetlander Jake Davis. He was 18 years old when he was arrested after the group fell prey to… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/15/we-are-anonymous-goes-inside-the-world-of-cyberspies-3923457/feed/0We Are Anonymous (Graphic: Ian Dodds)joannesmith2013We Are Anonymous (Graphic: Ian Dodds)Under Another Sky, Empire Of The Deep: The Rise And Fall Of The British Navy and Churchill And Empirehttp://metro.co.uk/2013/08/15/under-another-sky-empire-of-the-deep-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-british-navy-and-churchill-and-empire-3923587/
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Shelfspace (Pictures: Supplied)

It was in histories by Tacitus and Caesar that the Romans brought Britain into existence, at least on the page.

That empire vanished from these shores more than 1,500 years ago but its legacy is the subject of Charlotte Higgins’s transporting history-cum-traveller’s guide Under Another Sky (Jonathan Cape).

This is not a straightforward story of long ago: the author is ‘convinced of the irrecoverability of people from the deep past’. Instead, the framework is the trips Higgins and her boyfriend take in a camper van across the country, to Hadrian’s Wall, Colchester, Norfolk and the Cotswolds.

Higgins wears her considerable erudition lightly and nimbly hops between her knowledge of the classics and the changing perception of the ancients by the… Read the full story]]>

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I wanted them closer to me by writing about them. I wanted to ask them questions I couldn’t when they were alive as it would have upset them. They were from a cultural generation where pain, death, financial worries and terrible things were taboo. In my grandparents’ case it was the Holocaust. The family in the book is nothing like mine but the Hungarian accents, food and clothes are incredibly familiar, from them. I wanted to describe their foreignness yet also the way they were proud to be British. I pass for English but I don’t feel English… Read the full story]]>

David Peace has followed up his Brian Clough novel, The Damned Utd, with more football fiction (Picture: Camera Press)

David Peace is sitting in a Leeds bar and one might expect a few furtive glances from the author of The Damned Utd. After all, this is the city that was the focus for much of Peace’s controversial and best-selling book, the fictional narrative of enigmatic football manager Brian Clough’s 44-day reign at Leeds United – a book which led much-loved ex-player Johnny Giles to issue legal proceedings.

But Peace is untroubled. For one thing, he’s keen to point out that the case didn’t actually go to trial –… Read the full story]]>

Bernardine Evaristo opens her e-reader for us (Picture: Hayley Madden)

Bernardine Evaristo tells us what’s on her e-reader, including Joan Smith, Lawrence Scott and CJ Flood.

The Public Woman by Joan SmithA red-hot account of what it means to be a woman today. From Katie Price to Kate Middleton, female genital mutilation to female members of parliament, the demise of Amy Winehouse to the imprisonment of Pussy Riot, Smith explores the many aspects of women’s public lives including in the media and social media.

Light Falling On Bamboo by Lawrence Scott
A novel of great beauty and sensitivity. Set in 19th-century Trinidad, it’s about the celebrated mixed-race artist Michel-Jean Cazabon, who lived in Trinidad, England and Paris.

Have a laugh with these new books by Ben Brooks, John Niven and Roddy Doyle (Picture: Supplied)

One way that literary prize judges distinguish themselves from the general reading public is their tendency to overlook novelists who set out to make us laugh. Yet rib-tickling hilarity and high-quality writing go hand in hand – good comic fiction demands expert control over voice and plot, on show in these three novels.

In Lolito (Canongate), by Ben Brooks, 15-year-old Etgar describes his jealous heartache over the long-term girlfriend he caught out in a lie about kissing another boy. He glumly considers retiring to bed drunk – picturing himself being ‘dragged out of the house by people Mum found on the internet after googling “my son will not move”’… Read the full story]]>

The world of literature is filled with sexually transgressive characters, both repelling readers while holding their attention with complex concoctions of forbidden desire bringing devastating consequences. One thinks most of Lolita’s Humbert Humbert, who most inspires this dark, disturbing debut novel.

The gender power relations here are inverted, for Tampa’s predator is the physically beautiful yet morally ugly 26-year-old teacher Celeste, who engages in a destructive affair with a vulnerable 14-year-old student, Jack.

Through choosing a first-person narrator, Nutting draws the reader into the depths of Celeste’s depraved mind, and reading the novel is akin to climbing into the Black Hole roller coaster ride, swooping and diving through the extremes of… Read the full story]]>

Nele Neuhaus started by selling her books from a meat-packaging plant (Picture: Frank May)

Nele Neuhaus, 46, is a German crime writer who has just published her first book in Britain. She started her career selling books from her husband’s meat-packing factory.

Snow White Must Die is my first book to be published in Britain. I’m very proud about that. It’s my seventh in Germany, where I’ve sold 5million books. It’s about a young man who has been in prison for murder and returns to his home village. His neighbours aren’t happy to see him. Then another murder takes place and it goes from there.

I started writing fiction when I was young – stories about horses and animals. When I read those stories now, there… Read the full story]]>

The pick’n’mix delights on offer in the current crop of literary magazines provide an excellent solution to anyone struggling to decide what books to take on holiday this year – it beats busting your luggage limit or manically downloading dozens of e-books.

Issue 124 of Granta – the biggest name in the field – has the seasonal theme of ‘travel’ and offers a typically stellar line-up, including Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami.

He returns to Kobe, where he grew up; while Open City author (and prolific tweeter) Teju Cole does the same in Lagos, with a stand-out piece anatomising his emotions on being held up at gunpoint in traffic.

It’s been some years since football escaped the ghetto of the back pages but the notion of the sport taking its place in literature still raises eyebrows.

David Peace brilliantly challenged that status quo in The Damned Utd, an account of Brian Clough’s turbulent weeks in charge of Leeds United; the strength of Peace’s voice and his unpicking of a complex character proved richly rewarding.

Now the writer returns to football to portray another celebrated manager, but the formidably disciplined Bill Shankly was a very different man from the troubled Clough and this novelised… Read the full story]]>

Author Catherine O’Flynn reveals what’s on her e-reader, including the ‘hard-boiled noir’ of Megan Abbott and the funniest story she’s ever read.

The End Of Everything by Megan Abbott
I’ve enjoyed Megan Abbott’s period, hard-boiled noir in the past but The End Of Everything, set at some inexact moment in the 1980s, is her best. It’s written in the intense, overheated voice of 13-year-old Lizzie, whose best friend has gone missing. It manages to sidestep all the clichés and expectations of ‘missing child’ stories and captures the woozy atmosphere of summer in suburbia.

Nothing Gold Can Stay by Ron Rash
I’m grateful to have found Ron Rash’s work this year. He brings… Read the full story]]>

The Harry Potter author was awarded the undisclosed sum at London’s High Court from Russells Solicitors for breaching her confidentiality and has donated the money to charity.

Rowling published crime novel The Cuckoo’s Calling under the name Robert Galbraith but was outed in a feature by The Sunday Times.

The writer, who was not in court for the hearing, said in a statement: ‘This donation is being made to The Soldiers’ Charity partly as a thank you to the army people who helped me with research, but also… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/07/31/jk-rowling-accepts-donation-from-law-firm-that-leaked-pseudonym-3905931/feed/0JK Rowling makes her screenwriting debut with the film (Picture: AP)annleeukmetroJK RowlingThe best books to pack in your case for the summer holidayshttp://metro.co.uk/2013/07/31/the-best-books-to-pack-in-your-case-for-the-summer-holidays-3904639/
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Heading off for your holidays? Try one of these essential reads.

Adventure holidays

Adventure holidays: Journeys of discovery… inside and outDrugs 2.0: The Web Revolution That’s Changing How The World Gets High by Mike Power (Portobello, £14.99)
This summer’s must-read book for cosmic voyagers and those interested in the exploration of altered states. Mike Power’s Drugs 2.0 is a well-researched, informative and often funny look at a web-based narcotics industry and economy that has revolutionised the ways the world gets its rocks off.

Former BBC reporter Colette McBeth, 38, has published her first novel, Precious Thing, a thriller inspired by a previous job in Ibiza.

The book is about a close female friendship that turns to obsession. The characters meet at school and form a bond. In the present, Rachel, a TV crime reporter, is covering the disappearance of a woman who turns out to be her old friend. From there, her own life begins to unravel.

I had the idea 15 years ago when I was working in Ibiza for the summer. I wondered if it… Read the full story]]>

Grab a a book about the summer holidays for your summer holiday (Picture: Getty Images)

It might feel a bit odd to read about summer holidays while you’re trying to enjoy one, but a book soaked in sunshine and conjuring up the excitement of liberty and travel could just get you in the right frame of mind.… Read the full story]]>
http://metro.co.uk/2013/07/26/schools-out-6-books-about-summer-holidays-3898697/feed/0Newquay Prepares For The Summer Holiday SeasonmykitchenhellNEWQUAY, ENGLAND - JULY 05: People take advantage of the fine weather at Fistral Beach on July 5, 2013 in Newquay, England. The build up to the busiest part of the year for the Cornish resort is coinciding with what the Met Office is promising to be a sustained period of fine settled weather for most of the UK. Getty ImagesOn My E-reader: Including Roulette by Martin Blakey and The I Chong by Tommy Chonghttp://metro.co.uk/2013/07/25/on-my-e-reader-including-roulette-by-martin-blakey-and-the-i-chong-by-tommy-chong-3897202/
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Howard Marks (Picture: Getty)

Roulette by Martin Blakey
As writer and journalist George Augustus Sala (1828-95) once stated: ‘A gambler with a system must be, to a greater or lesser extent, insane.’ Overcoming my inability to cope with randomness, I unleashed my primal belief that there has to be a way of making money at roulette. Martin Blakey, an Australian professor of mathematics, explains it all in an extraordinary book.

The I Chong by Tommy Chong
Books dealing with dope or prison rarely impress me: I’ve been there and smoked the T-shirt. This blew me away. Tommy Chong (Cheech & Chong) is the only person to be jailed for a role he played on screen. As with… Read the full story]]>
http://metro.co.uk/2013/07/25/on-my-e-reader-including-roulette-by-martin-blakey-and-the-i-chong-by-tommy-chong-3897202/feed/0Howard Marks (Picture: Getty)joannesmith2013Howard Marks (Picture: Getty)Shelf Space: Film biographies including Nicolas Roeg, Oliver Reed and Ava Gardnerhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/07/25/shelf-space-film-biographies-including-nicolas-roeg-oliver-reed-and-ava-gardner-3897189/
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The World Is Ever Changing by Nicolas Roeg (Picture: Supplied)

He’s well into his eighties and it has been several years since he made a film but Nicolas Roeg is perhaps Britain’s most creatively influential living director. Celebrated for Performance with Mick Jagger and supernatural thriller Don’t Look Now, this visionary makes movies unlike anyone else.

Roeg’s memoir, The World Is Ever Changing (Faber and Faber), stays true to his subversively idiosyncratic approach. His constant mantra is: ‘There’s a right way – and another way.’

A chapter on memories of past lives is called ‘disjecta membra’, meaning ‘scattered fragments’, and it might be a title for the whole. As he leaps from one subject to another, Roeg expresses… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/07/25/shelf-space-film-biographies-including-nicolas-roeg-oliver-reed-and-ava-gardner-3897189/feed/0What Fresh Lunacy Is This by Robert Sellers (Picture: Supplied)joannesmith2013The World Is Ever Changing by Nicolas Roeg (Picture: Supplied)What Fresh Lunacy Is This by Robert Sellers (Picture: Supplied)Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations (Picture: Supplied)Olivia Laing drinks in the impact of alcohol on authors in The Trip To Echo Springhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/07/25/olivia-laing-drinks-in-the-impact-of-alcohol-on-authors-in-the-trip-to-echo-spring-3897153/
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If anyone understands that literary criticism should follow suit – at least if it’s to reach the bookshop as well as university library – then it’s Olivia Laing, a rising English critic who matches smart textual analysis of 20th-century greats with down-and-dirty ferreting around the places where they lived and worked.

In her debut, To The River, she walks from source to the sea along the River Ouse, in which Virginia Woolf drowned herself in 1941. Her latest book sticks to the theme of troubled writers by

investigating the impact of alcoholism on the work of six US heavyweights, including Ernest Hemingway and man of the moment F Scott Fitzgerald. The result is a… Read the full story]]>
http://metro.co.uk/2013/07/25/olivia-laing-drinks-in-the-impact-of-alcohol-on-authors-in-the-trip-to-echo-spring-3897153/feed/0joannesmith2013Olivia Laing takes a personal road trip (Picture: Supplied)joannesmith2013Comic book artist Rutu Modan: Even Superman was a failure in Israelhttp://metro.co.uk/2013/07/25/comic-book-artist-rutu-modan-even-superman-was-a-failure-in-israel-3896740/
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Rutu Modan based the characters in her book The Porperty on her family (Picture: Ephrat Beloosesky)

I didn’t tell anyone in my family that I’d use them as characters in my new book, The Property. The character of Regina, who travels from Israel to Poland with her granddaughter Mica, draws on a mixture of my grandmothers, both originally from Warsaw. I thought of their clothes and hairstyles, the way they used to talk and how they always referred to Poland as ‘one big cemetery’. The character of Yagodnik is based on my uncle. I love him very… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/07/25/comic-book-artist-rutu-modan-even-superman-was-a-failure-in-israel-3896740/feed/0Rutu Modan based the characters in her book The Porperty on her family (Picture: Ephrat Beloosesky)annapunshonRutu Modan based the characters in her book The Porperty on her family (Picture: Ephrat Beloosesky)Rutu Modan's The Property (Picture: Rutu Modan)Man Booker Prize 2013 longlist announced with ‘royal baby’ themehttp://metro.co.uk/2013/07/23/man-booker-prize-2013-longlist-announced-with-royal-baby-theme-3894753/
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The Man Booker Prize longlist was unveiled with a cheeky nod to the announcement of the birth of the royal baby (Picture: PA)

Jim Crace, Jhumpa Lahiri and Tash Aw are among the authors to have made the 13-strong Man Booker Prize longlist.

The list in full was announced on the prize’s official Twitter page with a nod to the birth of the Duke and Duchess’s first child yesterday, as the names were ‘displayed’ on a golden easel, although the tweet was later deleted.

Crace, who finds himself on the list after announcing his latest novel Harvest will be his last, said: ‘Retiring from writing… Read the full story]]>

KW: Superkid by Claire Freedman and Sarah McIntyre (£6.99, Scholastic). Freedman, who wrote Aliens Love Underpants, creates an incredible superhero who saves children from such horrors as playground bullies and grandma’s broccoli.Also: Dustbin Dad by Peter Bently and Russell… Read the full story]]>

http://metro.co.uk/2013/07/23/childrens-summer-reading-experts-recommendations-3893764/feed/0joannesmith2013Keep your youngsters occupied this summer with a good book (Picture: Getty)joannesmith2013Keep your youngsters occupied this summer with a good book (Picture: Getty)Author Daisy Waugh: Endless costume making and becoming a ‘saint’? Being a mum is difficulthttp://metro.co.uk/2013/07/23/author-daisy-waugh-endless-costume-making-and-becoming-a-saint-being-a-mum-is-difficult-3893420/
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Author Daisy Waugh’s latest book looks at what’s wrong with modern motherhood.

Becoming a mother is incredibly difficult, dealing with the switch between being a normal, independent person, who’s following their ambitions, then becoming this ‘angel’-type figure. You’re grateful and happy to be able to have children but the change in how the world responds to you is a lot to deal with.

There’s an expectation that you become a saint, which is awful. I found the ‘loss of erotic capital’ an adjustment to make – suddenly not being able to use things like flirtation to help you get your… Read the full story]]>

James Scudamore’s tale of three damaged loners centres around a derelict asylum (Image: IanDodds)

The longlist for the Man Booker Prize will be announced on Tuesday and one of the issues judges might be wrestling with is what on earth to do with ambitious but flawed novels such as Wreaking, the third book from James Scudamore, whose previous novel, Brazilian rags-to-riches tale Heliopolis, made the cut in 2009.

The book is a gnarly guessing game of family secrets and lies, nearly hobbled by the vast acreage Scudamore sets out to cover in bridging together the mysteriously damaged loners at its heart. There’s widower Jasper, skulking in the shell of a derelict psychiatric hospital,… Read the full story]]>

Britain may have sunshine this summer but does the Continent still have the edge on sex? Not if Catalan writer Najat El Hachmi’s second novel, The Body Hunter (Serpent’s Tail), is anything to go by.

It’s about a cleaning lady who picks up strangers for no-strings encounters that cover all bases from vanilla to bondage, dominance, sadism and masochism, but as one lover after another falls by the wayside it becomes a moany story – and not in a good way. The detached tone is neither vivid enough to lure you into the narrator’s tormented psyche nor sufficiently universal for any fresh insights on the theme, while a fairy-tale ending trumps the transgressive mood with a hackneyed lesson about true love.Read the full story]]>